Of Wind and Fire
by MurderComplication
Summary: Natsume never saw herself as capable to be a hero. She never pushed herself far enough to understand the true power of her quirk. After a very embarrassing accident, Natsume is shown the true power her quirk can have. It just so happens to pair well with another student's icy-hot quirk.
1. Quirks

"No, you don't have to come," I whispered into my cell phone, looking back at the door to my new class. "But Darling! You made it, your Father and I want to support our baby," my mother cooed from the other end.

I sighed, slapping my forehead lightly, "I know that Mom. But it's already a month into the school year; there's no point coming down unless there's a disaster happening. All that's happening is that I changed classes – it's not too special." She huffed. "Besides, Hokkaido doesn't have that many decent heroes, so it's safer if you both stay there."

"I guess you're right," she sighed in defeat as I brushed a piece of the fluff of my skirt.

"I've got to go now. Mom, the class will be starting soon, and I don't want to be-" I tried to end the call.

"Kazeya! Don't make me expel you before you even enter the classroom," a bored voice called from behind me. I quickly hung up the phone without saying goodbye and rushed towards my new homeroom teacher Aizawa, shoving my phone into my bag. Mom would understand.

I bowed my head, "my apologies for the nuisance." He clicked his tongue and entered class 1-A, standing at the front of the class. I hurriedly came and stood beside him at the front of the room.

"We have a transfer student joining us. Natsume Kazeya was admitted to the General Education Class originally but has been promoted to Hero Class." Aizawa said, burying his nose in his scarf. I quickly bowed my head to the class at the waist. These were all individuals with amazing quirks that had great control over them. I was at an extreme disadvantage. "Take that empty seat." I stood back up and rushed down the first row to the seat in the back corner.

"Sensei," a dark-haired boy with glasses stood with his hand raised, "how is it possible for a support type quirk to be upgraded into a hero type quirk?" Oh no, people were already questioning my being.

"Iida," Aizawa sighed, "normally by this age you have figured out the type and degree of your quirk. In some rare cases, the true degree of one's quirk may not be known until much later. That is why you can modify your registered quirk once or twice. For example, if you can create water, you may figure out later that you can pull water from the air and manipulate that." Iida nodded before, lowering his hand and sitting back down. Great, people are going to question my abilities now. Aizawa picked up a remote and pressed a button. The wall across from the doorway began to move, sections of the wall slid out, and silver cases number from one to twenty slid out. "Everyone, change into your costumes and meet in the arena." He slipped the remote back into his jacket and exited the classroom.

"Welcome to the class," a girl with short brown hair beamed as she approached my desk with a curly green-haired boy. "I am Uraraka, and this is Midoriya."

"Nice to meet you," I returned the smile and stood up, placing my bag on my chair.

"Who gives a damn about you – you were in the General Class for a reason. You can't do shit," the blonde, beady red-eyed boy scoffed from out of nowhere as he stood, clenching his fists before grabbing his costume case and left the classroom.

"Ignore him, he's mean to everyone," Uraraka smiled at me, picking up her case. "Where is yours?"

"Oh, I don't have one yet," I said, walking to the display with the two.

"Don't you have a costume," Midoriya asked, grabbing his own as well.

I shook my head, "we don't get to choose our costumes – some people in the General Education Class won't be able to become heroes while some can become strong enough to be a support and sometimes a hero."

Uraraka frowned, "have you designed one yet? I'm sure we could help if you did not have one in mind."

"Thank you," I smiled. My brother had already taken it upon himself to come up with a design worthy of our family legacy and my quirk. He was too proud of our family's name to allow me to possibly tarnish that. I followed the girls to our change room, opened my locker and changed into the blue gym uniform. We exited the change room and entered the large battle arena. I stood off to the side, away from my new classmates and pulled my long pitch-black hair into a tight ponytail. Uraraka noticed I had stepped away and gravitated towards me, smiling at me as our homeroom teacher stood in front of us.

"We are going to focus on battle techniques if you are ever unable to use your quirk. Some villains may possess eraser quirks like me, or they may possess the same quirk. If that is the case, then your quirk will be utterly useless. You will wear nullifying bracelets to mimic these effects." Aizawa shrugged, attaching one onto my wrist another onto the rude blonde boy from earlier.

"Hey! Why do I have to fight the support reject?" The blonde boy yelled as he tried to rip his wrist away from our teacher. If our quirks were not being measured in this test, then I had a chance to do decently.

Aizawa sighed, "you were the highest point earner in the entrance exam Bakugo. Let's see if Kazeya deserves to be in the hero class or expelled. The first person to exit the ring or is unable to continue is the loser." He dropped our hands. Bakugo whined and entered the ring. I unzipped the jacket of the gym uniform and dropped it at the side of the ring. It would be more comfortable in a tank top. We stood opposite each other. He glared daggers at me. "Fight."

He rushed at me and swung a right hook. I caught it by crossing my right arm across my chest to catch his swing then proceeded to use my left arm to uppercut him in the chin. I grabbed his wrist and pulled my right arm back, forcing him off balance and towards me. I turned and used my shin to kick him on the lower back and let go of his right hand. He went flying across the ring but landed on his feet.

"You might want to try a little harder," I smiled, blowing a stray piece of my bangs out of my face. Bakugo just kept swearing as he rushed towards me with another right swing. I grabbed his right wrist, twisted into his body and threw him over myself and out of the ring.

Aizawa blew the whistle. "Analyze the match, how did Kazeya beat our number one point earner."

A girl with long black hair tied in a wild ponytail raised her hand. She wore a skimpy red outfit with no sleeves, and no centre, half of her breasts and her belly were exposed. "Kazeya used Bakugo's strength against him. He attacked wildly and uncalculated while she was able to adjust her own body to his mechanics to use it against himself." The nullification bracelets clicked open.

Bakugo looked wild and scoffed, "let's see if you can do the same with your quirk!" He rushed at me; right hand pulled back. Idiot favoured his right hand too much when he had three other good limbs. I ducked down into a squat when he neared me. His punch exploded with sparks over top of me. I shifted and kicked my left leg up and into his chest. I rose onto my arms and used my other leg to wrap about his neck and pulled him down into an armbar on the ring. My thumbs were pressed into his tendon, preventing movement and causing pain in his arm. No quirk needed.

"Stop trying to one-up the other," Aizawa glared at me. I let go of Bakugo and did a back somersault away from him and stood on my feet. "Kazeya lives to be expelled another day." He heaved a sigh as Bakugo swore up a storm.

"That was great how you kept your own against Bakugo," Uraraka smiled, giving the air a few small punches.

Midoriya smiled as he nodded his head, "you noticed that he favours his right side too!"

I gave them both a smile, "it wasn't that hard to figure out since he refused to use any other limb."

"Where did you learn to move like that Kazeya?" Iida, the one who had questioned my placement in the class, asked with his hand raised again.

I froze, "well, I – uh – have two older siblings who liked to beat me up a lot, so my parents enrolled me in mixed martial arts." Iida nodded twice before volunteering for the next set to go. Some of the other students were good in hand to hand combat, but most of them who relied on their quirks for speed or long-distance attacks had trouble. We were dismissed to change and return to the classroom for the last notes. After an hour of questions and commentary on battle styles, the bell rang.

"Kazeya stay after class," Aizawa ordered as I picked up my bag. I sighed, putting my bag back down, watching as everyone else left. I was already in trouble on the first day. Aizawa sat on Uraraka's desk beside me. "You never applied to the Hero Class despite being recommended. You only applied for General Studies. What stupid move are you playing?"

I tilted my head as my cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Of course, someone would ask about that. "My quirk is not on the same level as the rest of my family's. I thought that because I was so weak with my quirk that it was not an option to even try for the Hero Class. But, with that kid yesterday doing what he did – we realized that I've only been able to use a small amount of my quirk's true potential."

Aizawa nodded after staring at me for a long moment, "don't second guess yourself again. You won't belong here anymore if you do." He stood up and left the room. I shrugged, grabbing my bag and leaving the classroom.

"So, this is where you ended up," an annoyed voice said from behind me. I turned to see my old classmate, Shinso.

"All thanks to what you made Tetsutetsu do," I said, placing my hands on my hips. "I'd still be with you in General Studies if you hadn't decided to be an idiot."

He clicked his tongue, "that spot should have been mine. I'll be taking that from you. Watch your back." I turned my back to him and left him alone in the hallway.


	2. Jealous

I walked into my new and empty classroom. It was twenty minutes to the first bell, and no one was here yet. I rolled my head side to side, my hair pinned to the top of my head in a bun. My brother was at the bathroom door this morning begging for me to curl my hair to be 'extra cute' in the school uniform. Pervert. I stopped in front of my desk. It was the only one in the row as it was extra, it stuck out like a sore thumb. My desk looked like it had been used as a test dummy at a minefield. The metal legs were bent in odd shapes and tarnished. The wooden desk had charred in handprint patterns, and large chunks were burned out of it. I rolled my eyes and lifted the desk, taking it out into the hallway. At least that idiot Bakugo had left my chair alone. How butthurt could this guy be?

"Good morning Kazeya," the cheery voice of Uraraka chimed out. I set the desk by the door before turning to greet her, "what happened to that desk?" Iida and Midoriya were already with her as well.

"Oh," I cringed inwardly a little. "Someone had fun playing a prank on the transfer."

"That is not acceptable! We will find whoever is behind this and punish them swiftly," Iida crossed an arm across his chest.

"It's not a big deal, really," I tried to calm them down.

Midoriya frowned, "it looks like Bakugo's explosions."

Uraraka frowned as she grabbed me by the shoulders and ushered me inside, "he's just upset that you totally rocked it against him yesterday." She let go of me and punched the air. More of our classmates began to trickle in. I sighed, letting myself fall into my still intact chair. I dropped my bag to the side of the legs.

"Hey, missing something," Mineta asked with a tilt of his purple bubblehead. I crossed my legs to avoid him looking up my skirt. "You can share mine."

"No, thank you," I said instantly.

Iida shook his head, "that is not needed, Mineta. We will find the culprit and make them bring over one of the spare desks."

"Hey! It looks like someone lost their desk," the snickering voice of Bakugo yelled as he sauntered into the class. He stopped in front of my lonesome row and made a gun with his finger, "this is what you get. Bang." A small explosion went off at his fingertip.

"That's just low Bakugo," Kirishima frowned as he stood up forcefully at his desk, his chair falling back and hitting the one behind him.

He snorted, "not my fault. She should have stayed in the hero reject class."

I felt a tap on my shoulder while the two bickered. I turned to face Yaoyorozu, she had a smile on her face, "I could make you a new desk if you'd like." I started to try to reject her offer. "It should only take a few moments, so please bear with me."

There was no declining her offer now, "thank you, Yaoyorozu."

She batted her eyelashes and hit me roughly on the shoulder, "anytime!"

"Hey! Don't be nice to her," Bakugo roared. "She needs to die!"

"Hey," Kirishima yelled again, hardening his arm as he threatened Bakugo with it.

"What's with the racket so early in the morning," Aizawa groaned as he entered the class, "and why is one of our desks in the hall?" Everyone clambered to their seats.

Iida stood from his desk with his hand raised, "Bakugo in a fit of jealousy destroyed Kazeya's desk. Yaoyorozu is currently working on making a new desk for her." He bowed with his head before sitting back at his desk.

Aizawa let out an exasperated sigh, "you've been with us for one day, and you're already causing havoc. Bakugo, go to the teacher's office and bring back new textbooks for Kazeya."

"What doesn't the reject go get them herself?" Bakugo snorted as I stood, trying to exit the class without pushback.

"Where do you think you're going Kazeya?" Aizawa narrowed his eyes. "I asked Bakugo, not you. You are to stay in your seat until a new desk is made for you."

"It would be e-easier if I just got them myself," I stammered quietly. Aizawa stalked over to me, grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and tossed me down into my chair.

"Bakugo – follow me," Aizawa left the classroom. Bakugo did not move. His head popped back inside, "now!" Bakugo grumbled as he lazily left the class. Everyone busied themselves with talking with one another.

"Hey Kazeya," Midoriya motioned for me to join him. He held up a beat-up notebook with the number thirteen scrawled on it. "Since you're new I thought you might want to see what everyone's quirk was." He flipped through the notebook page by page. He had included Uraraka's anti-gravity quirk, Iida's engine quirk, Todoroki's fire and ice quirk – everyone was involved with a rough sketch of their costume. He even had a blank page at the back with my name set for me. "What's your quirk?"

"Uh, well," I started, twiddling my thumbs in my lap.

"Yeah, what is your quirk?" Kaminari leaned against the wall. Everyone's attention had suddenly turned on me. Aw crap.

"Well, it's uh," I stammered as my arms tensed from my hands being clasped together in my lap, "it's wind-" I was about to open my mouth again and finish my sentence. Still, Kaminari, Iida, Uraraka, and Midoriya were busy imagining what my quirk could do. Yaoyorozu had completed my new desk and set it in place with a pat on the surface as she ogled her latest creation.

"Can you make tornados like Cyclone?" Midoriya bounced in his seat, excitedly like a small child. Like I used to do as a child watching that All Might video where he saved thousands of people for the millionth time. I began to stammer as everyone surrounded me and started asking me questions.

"Can you make a storm appear out of nowhere like Hailstorm?"

"Can you pull up girl's skirts with a gust of wind?"

"Back to your seats," Aizawa ordered as he stood at the front of the class again. Bakugo grumbled as he dropped unscorched copies of our textbook onto my new desk. "You can figure out what Kazeya can do with her quirk tomorrow during our hero class." The class groaned as those that were around us, sulked back to their seats. I scurried off to my desk and slammed the math text open, wanting to skip this moment and get on with the regular classes.

[W&F]

I grumbled, sitting on the ground in the side splits across from Kaosuke, "apparently we have a hero class tomorrow, and we have to use our quirks."

"You're probably the only one at that school who doesn't get off using their quirk." Kaosuke stretched forward in his side split and reached across to his left toe with his right arm and held it for a moment before switching to the opposing side.

"I'll just embarrass myself," I frowned, stretching my arms behind my head, pushing down on the elbow to get a deeper stretch.

"Just have another run-in with a boy again." Kaosuke laughed. I glared at him and put my hair up into a tight ponytail.

I rolled my body down into a backbend, my legs walking around my head and flipping over to the other side when needed. "I don't know what's more embarrassing. Having them see how weak my powers are or that." I stood and rolled myself back into a kneeling position.

"Then we have to make you stronger," Kaosuke winked, giving me a hand. I reached up to take it back he used his other hand to send a wave of wind at me that forced me onto the ground hard. "Like that."

"You're a jerk." I pouted, swinging my feet and taking his own out. He fell in a huff to the ground. My feet kept swinging around until they were closer to me that I could tuck them under myself.

"You have no problem with hand to hand shit," Kaosuke stood, brushing off his drop-crotch pants. He lifted his hand, a ball of wind gusting around his fist. He moved and hit one of the target posts. It tore right through and splintered it to pieces. I'll never be able to do that. "Hit me with the strongest gust of wind that you can manage."

I stood up, opened my hands full and pretended that I was holding a beach ball and pulled it towards myself. I quickly twisted my wrists outward and pushed it as hard as I could against Kaosuke. He did not move. Only his hair moved a little in the breeze. "See? I don't know why they thought transferring me into the hero course was a good idea. I can't even cool you off in the middle of summer." My brother let out a laugh as he checked to make sure that his perfectly quaffed black hair was still in place. Unfortunately for me, it had stayed. "It's not funny. They're going to realize how big of a mistake it was that they made and send me right back to 1-C if I'm lucky not to be expelled."

"Give me a hundred push-ups." Kaosuke dropped to his knees and motioned for me too as well. "Your form's correct, but you seem to lack the muscle to force it out properly. After this, we'll try making a small storm, and if you can't, we'll do a hundred pull-ups."

"My arms are going to fall off by the time I make any progress," I frowned dipping down and starting the push-ups.

"Good, then maybe your arms can do something half decent." Kaosuke poked me with an arm as he went down on just one arm. I sent him a glare as I quickened my pace. I was not able to do his fancy push-ups yet. But if that's what it took to prove to myself, and everyone, that I was a hero. Primarily myself. I would get there. He started to meet my pace.

"You're finding your dinner tonight!" I glowered as I quickened my pace even more.

Kaosuke froze at the bottom of a push-up, "you wouldn't."

"Oh, I would!"


	3. Villains

Thank you to everyone that has followed, favourited, and/or reviewed Of Wind and Fire. I hope we enjoy Natsume's and Shoto's journey together.

* * *

"Hey Kazeya – is your wind quirk flashy," Kirishima asked from the middle of the bus. "We're debating who has the flashiest quirk in the class. Right now, it's between Bakugo and Todoroki, but we haven't seen yours." I gave a quick look to the boy beside me, Todoroki had his eyes closed and seemed to be either asleep or deep in thought, then turned my attention back to Kirishima and his friends.

"I wouldn't say it's flashy," I gave him an awkward grin thinking back to two days ago. That was flashy. "I can do some large-scale attacks, but it depends on what you consider flashy." If I even could muster another one like before, to begin with.

"Are we going to see your quirk," Midoriya asked excitedly as he and the others in his conversation turned to stare at me.

"M-m-maybe," I stammered clasping my hands in my lap tightly. "I don't use it often." The bus pulled to a halt in front of a large domed building. I waited until everyone was almost off the bus before joining them. I stared in amazement at everyone as they walked in a broad line towards the building. They looked stunning in their hero uniforms. Midoriya was the only one besides for me in his gym uniform; apparently, Bakugo had destroyed it a few days ago in a hero versus villain exercise with All Might. Everyone stopped at the entrance. Thirteen stood in her astronaut-like hero costume. Since my parents both held weather-like quirks, they had done some work with Thirteen in the past. Thirteen's quirk was black hole – she was able to act like a black hole and suck in hurricanes and tsunamis before they caused too much damage. That can especially come in handy when either of my parents had to create one to combat another natural disaster or against a villain. We followed her inside the building, there were over ten different types of terrain for natural and human-made disasters to occur and for us to be tested with.

"Welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint!" Thirteen welcomed us with her arms thrown up. I tried to stay at the back behind Shoji so Thirteen would not recognise me. With how many heroes my parents were friends with I was no doubt going to be recognised one day. But, hopefully, that will be a long time from now. I did not want to embarrass my parents with having such a weak offspring, and alternately – I did not want to be given privileges because of who my parents were. I wanted to flounder or swim by myself.

"Where's All Might," Aizawa asked, approaching Thirteen. The two spoke for a moment, "that man is the height of irresponsibility." I guess we would only have the two teachers today. "We should get started."

"Let me just say one thing, or two – or three, wait, maybe four or five," Thirteen stammered trying to count on her fingers, "listen carefully, many of you know that I have the quirk black hole. I can use it to suck up anything and turn it into dust. My quirk could also very easily be used to kill. Some of you also have dangerous powers. Please don't forget that if you lose focus or make the wrong move, your powers can get deadly even if you're trying to do something virtuous. Today, you're going to use your quirks to save people's lives. You won't be using your quirks to fight enemies or each other, only to help. After all – that's what being a hero is all about. Thank you for listening!" She took a bow. Aizawa took one step forward at that moment an electrical surge shook the building, and all the lights went out. This could not be the start of training already. They were too methodical to just throw us in without an assignment. I watched Aizawa closely from the back. His eyes widened, and his body stiffened. This was not right.

"Stay together and don't move," Aizawa ordered in an oddly stern voice. "Thirteen, protect the students." My classmates around me became confused and started murmuring loudly. I craned my neck up and looked down the broad staircase past our two teachers. A large black swirling mass had appeared, and dozens of people were filing out of the void. Half of them had sneers on their faces and looked at us with a bloodthirsty rage. They were not animatronics. These were real villains. "Stay back! This is real – those are villains." People began to chatter and question why the alarms were not going off and how they could have gotten in. Kaminari tried to use his electricity quirk to contact the school, but he could not get through. With how many villains they had, it was no doubt that they had someone who could scramble radio waves.

"But teacher," Midoriya questioned, "how are you going to take on that many of them?"

Aizawa put his goggles over his eyes, "you can't be a pro if you only have one trick." He jumped down the staircase, the bandages around his neck flaring out. I rushed to the ledge, watching a three-person firing squad aim in confusion as Aizawa erased their quirks and knocked them out. He used his high mobility and bandages to take down two or three villains at a time.

"Kazeya, Midoriya - you've got to move," Iida yelled. Midoriya and I had both stopped to watch Aizawa in awe. The three of us turned and rushed towards the door with the rest of the class. I wanted to stay and help him, but there was no way I could use my quirk to help. And having a repeat of what happened before was out of the question. I was too weak. I was no hero.

A large shadow emerged from in front of the door, "there is no escape for you. We are the league of villains. I know it's impolite, but we decided to invite ourselves in to say hello. After all, is this not a fitting place for All Might to take his final breath?" Kirishima and Bakugo leapt at the villain, but their attack did nothing. "You may live up to your school's reputation, but someone might get hurt. You will meet my comrades – and your death!" His shadow-like mist covered us. I felt the ground beneath my feet disappear. His quirk was warping! I took in a large breath and blew out forcefully, but my small gust of wind did nothing to his portal. Why had they even transferred me into this class? I felt a rocky surface under my feet. The warp portal disappeared, and I was on the side of a steep mountain that looked as if the top of the terrain had been washed away. I had a moment to recognise that it was the landslide zone before my poor attempt at getting my footing failed, and I toppled down the embankment. I came to an abrupt stop against something hard.

A crowd began laughing around me, "these dumb kids are supposed to be the next heroes? They can't even stand on their own feet." I forced myself onto my feet only to have a large hand wrap around the front of my throat and pushed me back to the ground. I had seen fifteen villains in the area and no other students in my short time on my feet. I lifted my legs and wrapped them around the massive brute's neck. He stared at me in stunned awe as I pulled him down and rolled my body up and over his. I squeezed his neck with my thighs tightly as he ran out of air and passed out.

"Dumb kids?" I smiled as I got off the brute. "I'll show you a dumb kid." I manoeuvred my hands in a large circle before pushing the air harshly against the group. Their hair and looser clothing waved gently in the breeze. That was all that I had managed to do. Great. I was screwed. The nearest one laughed with the rest and advanced on me, putting a hand on my shoulder. I turned into him and pushed my shoulder into his armpit and pectoral muscle, throwing him to the ground. There was a sick pop of his shoulder dislocating that was covered by his scream of pain as I pulled on his arm and pressed into his back with my leg. I was stunned by a sudden arctic chill in the air.

"He's not a kid. He's a monster!" One of the villains groaned. I turned towards the rest of the villains; they had all been frozen over. Todoroki stood a little way up the hill.

"Your amateurs that don't know how to use your quirks." Todoroki frowned as he walked over his ice shed towards me. "Like that other wanna-be hero."

"Hey," I snapped, pressing my leg harder into the back of the one I had flipped. "Don't lump me in with these losers!" I felt a shift in the air behind me. I turned and grabbed onto the metal rod a winged villain had poised for my back. I glared at him and snapped, pulsing a bolt of lightning into the rod. He went slack-jawed for a moment before crumpling to the ground.

Todoroki made his way to me; his entire left side was covered in ice, "you have two quirks?"

I froze, my heart not beating. "U-u-uh yeah." I walked to the edge of the landslide zone, Todoroki at my heels until I could see Aizawa fighting about five hundred feet from us across the shipwreck zone. My mind was running a mile a minute thanks to the boost to my system from my small lightning attack. There were villains all over the arena, and Aizawa was trying to take down all of them. He was fighting a blue-haired man with hands adorning the rest of his body. The warp villain had scattered every one to other locations that were probably infested with even more villains. Todoroki was the closest to me, and we had taken down the villains in our sector. He was strong – that was a given. But even he would be unable to take down this sheer number of villains. If Todoroki, Aizawa, and I worked together, we might have a fighting chance until someone, hopefully, showed up.

"Kazeya," Todoroki asked from beside me. I turned to look at him. He was watching me with a small degree of intrigue. I would have to repeat what Shinzo had made Tetsutetsu do and hope I released that same degree of ferocity. I let out a massive sigh. I turned back to the fight that was raging, a large burly black creature with his brain exposed on the top of his head had grabbed hold of Aizawa. The beast held him below itself and was pounding his head into the concrete. I had to act now. Fuck you Shinzo. I unzipped my jacket and dropped it to the ground.

"Hey, you probably saw that my quirk's weak as hell, but-" I quickly grabbed his wrist and placed his hand on my left breast, shutting my eyes tight, so I would not have to look at his face. His fingers twitched reflexively. Then squeezed. I smacked his hand away, took a deep breath as my anger and embarrassment gathered in the pit of my stomach. I crouched down, focusing on the air around my legs and blew out before shooting myself up. The wind under my feet had pushed me up and into the air, sailing above the water zone. I soared high in the air, watching as the creature lifted Aizawa's arm and broke it like a twig.

I snapped my fingers while I was still flying, bolts of white lightning shot out and electrocuted the enemies around Aizawa. I, unfortunately, could not hit the creature on top of him or he would have been hit too. I landed harshly on the ground on my feet behind the giant monster, pain rattling up my legs as I took a few uneasy steps forward. That was a dumb idea. The creature raised his hand and crushed Aizawa's other arm before slamming his face into the ground again.

"One of your little students came to help you, how pitiful," the blue-haired man mused as his hands began to scratch at his neck.

"Get off of him," I yelled, pulling the air towards myself like I was holding a beachball then pushing it out against Nomu harshly. Nomu was caught off guard and went flying back twenty feet, his feet bracing himself against the harsh wind.

"Kazeya, run," Aizawa groaned as he looked up at me. His forehead and left side of his face was covered in blood. His goggles had been destroyed when his face had been slammed into the ground.

"Nope," I smiled, lifting my arms into a fighting position. But, instead of fists, my hands were poised to snap. "I am not second-guessing myself this time." I turned and snapped at the blue-haired man. My white lightning shot forward and made contact with Nomu. Damn, he was fast. I snapped again before inhaling sharply and blowing out quickly at the ground. A large gust of wind picked up and took Nomu out at his feet, so he toppled down. The blue-haired man had jumped up and towards the water. I turned and saw Tsu, Midoriya, and Mineta staring in shock at us. Oh no.

"Let's make this hurt!" The blue-haired man stopped with his hand a few inches from Tsu's face. A look of utter terror was on Midoriya's face. He jumped out of the water, and a golden light surrounded his arm as he punched the blue-haired man. His quirk had to be terrifying if Midoriya looked so fearful. Nomu moved swiftly and stood in the space between the punch and the man. The recoil of his attack sending waves of dirt and gusts of air outward. I moved my hands in a circle and caught some of that momentum, creating my mother's transportation cloud. I quickly picked up Aizawa and laid him gently on the cloud, placing his bloodied googles on his abdomen. I pushed the cloud and sent it hurtling up the staircase to where there were hopefully some other students. I turned my attention back to my three classmates. They were still in the water so I could not use my lightning.

There was a loud crash from the entrance.

"Have no fear students, I am here," All Might roared across the arena. He quickly rushed down the stairs, taking out the last remaining villains that Aizawa and I had not taken out. I felt something hit me around my waist, and I was thrust through the air. It took a second to realise that All Might had grabbed me, Tsu, Mineta, and Midoriya away from the villains and had set us on the ground behind him a fair distance away.

"Get out of here and make sure everyone's safe." All Might ordered.

"But All Might he took one for – I mean I smashed him and I didn't break my arm, but it had no effect on him," Midoriya said quickly, "he's too strong."

"Young Midoriya, I've got this!" All Might turned and gave us a peace sign before rushing at the blue-haired villain. I did not move. I watched as All Might's punch hit Nomu instead. Nothing happened. He walked beside the creature and grabbed his waist, throwing him over himself in a suplex.

A hand grabbed my own, "come on, Natsume." Tsu had her hand around my wrist. I shook her off.

"No – I'm going to stay in case something happens. I can rush out if needed – make sure Aizawa's okay for me. Alright?" I gave her a smile. She reluctantly nodded and followed after Midoriya and Mineta. The one with the warp quirk had opened two portals up. Half of Noma was in each, and All Might's legs were caught. I rushed forward, spinning on my toes. I stopped abruptly and pushed the tornado at Nomu and the warped villain. The warp villain had dodged my tornado, but he had stepped right into Bakugo rushing at him. He let an explosion go on his metal-covered abdomen—a stream of ice formed behind me and rushed to Nomu, freezing him in the portals. My tornado hit the ice, breaking it and pulling it inside as it closed in on the creature. It rushed over Noma, leaving his pants and his face scratched up. I turned to see Todoroki making his way beside me. "What are you doing here?" All Might broke out of Nomu's grip and flipped over to my other side. His left abdomen was covered in blood. Kirishima tried to flip off a tree and land a blow to the top of the blue-haired man's head, but he quickly stepped out of the way.

"They said they came to kill All Might – we're not going to let that happen," Todoroki said with a cold glare. I nodded, turning my attention to the blue-haired man. I was not strong, so I would have no chance against that abomination.

"You got careless you dumb villain," Bakugo shouted as he held down the warp portaler and let off a few explosions again. "Don't try moving or they'll be trying to piece you together for weeks." Nomu began to pull his body out of one half of the portal and through the other. His arm and leg which had been frozen broke off, and he stumbled around on one leg and toppled over. His skin began to bubble and grew threads of muscle as his limbs began to heal again. Nomu was fine. He was indestructible.

"Get him Nomu," the blue-haired man said. Nomu moved towards the other trapped villain. All Might would take care of that attack on Bakugo. I turned and rushed to the water. I blew out and twisted my air quickly before throwing the ball into the water as deep as I could. I focused on trying to ebb and pull the water upward with my wind. I might be able to do something with the water. All Might had taken the blow from Nomu after he had removed Bakugo from his line of attack and had been pushed back into the wall of the arena.

"Sit back and relax students – watch a pro at work." All Might gave the boys a thumbs up. "I am the symbol of peace and justice!" All Might looked like he was in pain as he started to pumble Nomu with hundreds of punches. I squatted down and pushed up above my head, something substantial rested on my shoulders, and it pained my shins to push it up. A large sphere of water encased in a swirling orb of wind began to rise out of the water. I puffed my checks out as I pushed it over to the blue-haired man and his portaling sidekick. I let my hands drop with a huff. I felt light as a feather after releasing that weight. Water splashed over them as All Might punched Nomu up and out of the top of the dome. I wiped my hands on my gym pants quickly before snapping my fingers. The blue-haired man began to murmur while he scratched at his throat again. He froze, his hands stuck at his neck as my lightning hit him. I snapped back with my other hand.

"Kazeya," All Might yelled. I froze, Midoriya had jumped up and had aimed a punch for the blue-haired man. He was going to get electrocuted if he landed in that water! I spun, twisting my hands in a circle and pushed – aiming it at Midoriya. He was sent flying backwards away from the blue-haired man's hand and my electrified water. A gunshot rang out. A bullet had gone clean through the blue-haired man's outstretched hand. The portaler wrapped his friend in his cloak as more bullets hit him. In a second, they were gone. They had left their comrades behind. I turned towards the high staircase; all of the teachers were lined up ready to help.

I let out a sigh as I let myself sink to the ground. We had held them off long enough for Iida to get help. My teeth began to chatter. I had used too much of my wind manipulation. That last move really had not helped. I wrapped my arms around myself and pulled my knees up to my chin. A large stone wall erupted between us and All Might.

"Hey Natsume, are you okay?" Midoriya shifted his head to face me. He had broken his legs from that last attack attempt. "You look kind of blue."

"Y-yeah," I said through my violently chattering teeth. "I-if I use my w-wind quirk t-too much it ch-chills me to the b-b-bone. My l-lightning doesn't help since it slows d-down the electrical impulses in my body systems."

"Help! We need blankets down here," Midoriya yelled, propping himself up on his arms and tried to drag himself closer to me. "Help!" Todoroki rushed over to us, his ice guard on his left arm disappearing. He gently touched my back with his left, and I felt the heat begin to radiate out slowly. Wait – I had not seen him use any of his firepowers to fight earlier. After a moment of my shivering not dissipating Todoroki lifted me up into his arms and started to rush off with me towards the entrance.

"W-w-what are you doing?" I stammered through my clattering teeth.

"Getting you warmth." He replied simply as he hurried towards the stairs. "I don't want to burn you with my quirk."

"T-thanks," I shivered. Even though he was trying to keep me warm, my body was just not having it.

He looked down at me, "your lips are blue." He stomped his foot down, and we were rushed forward and up the stairs with a push from his ice quirk. He tried to rush us out of the building but Nezu, the principle stood in our way. No other teachers were on the entrance platform so I assume they must have all scattered to help capture all the villains that were left behind.

"My, whatever is the rush for you two?" Nezu smiled from below.

I felt Todoroki's arms and chest tense up, "Kazeya overused her quirk. She's freezing, and my fire quirk is not helping fast enough."

Nezu frowned, "now that is a problem. Good thing we called emergency services on our way over." Nezu stepped out of the way and bowed his head. Todoroki rushed past him and out of the building. About ten police vehicles and four ambulances were waiting patiently outside. Two of the ambulances pulled away from the group of cars and sped away from the building. Thirteen and Aizawa had to be in those ones. I frowned as Todoroki set me down on the back of the closet ambulance.

"We need help, she overused her quirk, and her body temperature has dropped drastically." He said as two paramedics rushed to me with heavy blankets. One covered me in them tightly and left while another stuck a thermometer under my tongue. He pulled it out after a moment and showed me the reading of 23 degrees Celsius. I had never been that cold before after using my wind – but I had also never combined my lightning with it either. The other paramedic had come back with a heat pack. The first shoved it under the blankets without bothering the hold I had on them. I held the heat pack to my chest.

"What else happens when you use your quirk," the first paramedic asked from in front of me. The second stood behind me in the back of the vehicle and Todoroki stood off to the side out of their way.

"The elect-trical impulses in my body slow down and require more electrolytes," I said, my stuttering becoming less apparent as my teeth slowed their chattering. A bottle of Gatorade was placed beside me as the first paramedic took the needle the second had handed him and put the beginning of the IV line on the back of my right hand. He connected it to a bag of warm electrolytes for hypothermic patients.

"We'll give you ten minutes for those to enter your system before we recheck your temperature," the first paramedic smiled, "at least you'll have some cute company." The two paramedics took their mobile kits and walked into the U.S.J. building. I pulled my head down in the blankets, hiding the embarrassed blush that was on my cheeks.

Todoroki moved in front of my spot on the back of the ambulance and looked at me with a judgemental stare, "is that what you do every time you need to use your quirk?"

My breath hitched in my throat as I tightened the heavy blankets around me. This was going to be even more embarrassing. "The day before I was transferred into this class, one of the boys decided to grab me from behind. Found out the true power of my quirks that way. Sorry for using you that way." I sighed and hung my head, pulling the heat pack closer to my chest.

"It was useful – but you might want to find another way to activate it. Unless you want Kaminari and Mineta to have a good day." Todoroki smirked. I shuddered at that thought. I had only known them for three days, and that was already disgusting. I reached over, picked up the bottle, unscrewed the lid on the Gatorade and started to chug the warmed drink. I had to replenish my electrolytes often thanks to my Father's electricity quirk. "I can see why you should have been in the hero class."

"Eh?" I looked at him mid-sip as if he had just revealed the strangest fetish to me. I swallowed the sip and brought the drink down from my lips, screwing the cap on. "I'm not a wanna-be hero?"

Todoroki shrugged as he looked around at the other students who were getting checked out and the line of handcuffed villains being loaded onto buses, "we all are. But, some of us got one step closer to being that hero today."

I gave him a smile before realisation hit me hard, and I hung my head, "but I still can't use my quirk like that anytime I want."

Recovery Girl popped up behind Todoroki's knee with a judgemental look, "how are you two feeling?" When had she arrived?

"Just fine," I smiled. I tried to stand up to bow my head slightly to show her respect, but I fell forward into Todoroki in pain instead. He quickly caught me while being careful of my IV and helped set me back down on the back of the ambulance.

"Did you injure yourself with that powered up jump," he asked as Recovery Girl started to feel my legs and roll up my pants. There was some light bruising.

"Right, I did that," I sighed, remembering the sharp shot of pain that had hit me when I landed.

"Well, you're lucky that they're just small stress fractures this time," she smiled, her lips puckering and floating up to my forehead. Gross. I felt a large portion of my energy drain. "I suggest you be more careful in future – not all injuries can be healed with my quirk. You need more electrolytes too. Bye for now." She scurried off with two stretchers, one with Midoriya and one covered in a blanket. I hung my head again as reality hit me hard. People had seen my quirks at such a high level of skill that I could not replicate on command. There was no way that I could use my quirk at my usual level without utterly embarrassing myself in class now. What had I done?


	4. Hailstorm

I sat at my desk; head shoved in my notebook trying to make myself invisible. So far, everyone had busied themselves with talking about our week off from school after the incident at U.S.J. I had managed to make myself small enough that no one noticed when I came into the classroom. The room went quiet. I looked up from my notebook. Aizawa stood at the front of the class with his face covered entirely in bandages and both arms cast. He looked like he needed a lot more time off to recoup.

"Welcome back from your impromptu break. The sports festival will be starting up in a few days so I suggest you all start training for it. Some lucky few of you may receive offers from Pro-Hero companies for after you graduate. Don't get your hopes up. But, we have a guest for today's lesson," Aizawa grumbled as the door slammed open. My eyes felt like they had bulged out of my head. My brother, clad in his icy blue skin-tight bodysuit with white gloves and boots, stood at the front of the class with a frown.

"Hailstorm." Midoriya let out a loud gasp. My brother kept his hands on his hips as he scanned the room. He lifted a hand and moved his long black bangs to the side.

"Get changed into your hero costumes and meet on the track. Natsu – outside." My brother pointed to the door with his thumb. The class began to chatter about how he knew my name as they gathered their outfits from the wall compartments. Oh, bother. I complied and made my way quickly out of the class behind him and down the hall out of earshot.

"Why did you have to call me out in front of everyone? Especially with a nickname. They're already suspicious of why I was in General, to begin with after last week – you're just making this worse," I frowned, crossing my arms and leaning against the wall.

His face hardened, "you did not submit the design I created for you. I found it last week shoved inside one of your textbooks. I sent it in for you – it should be in twenty-one." I shrugged, looking at the class' door. "Have you not told anyone about your hero family? We're a pedigree of pro-heroes with amazing elemental-based quirks. They deserve to know who they are up against."

I shushed him, "and they won't figure that out. Now then, I'll go get changed into your creation if you leave me out of this and pretend you don't know me." My brother did nothing. I lifted myself off the wall and re-entered the class, picking the last case from the wall and exited the class with everyone to the change rooms. My brother had already left the hall. I let out an aggravated sigh.

"What did Hailstorm want with you," Midoriya asked with stars in his eyes.

"Oh," I froze. Quick brain, think! "He just wanted to pass on a message from my family since they're friends."

"That's so cool!" He smiled before we branched off between the two changing rooms. I set the case down on the bench and clicked it open—a skin-tight black bodysuit looked up at me. I frowned, he had really sent it in. I pulled it out and started to roll the rubberized suit onto myself. My eye twitched. The shorts of the suit came about an inch lower than my butt and the sweetheart neckline was too small for my chest. I would have to send in a request to have this altered. Damn brother. I grumbled, slipping on the black shoes with a metal sole before grabbing the jacket of my gym uniform and pulling that over top.

"Is there a problem," Aizawa inquired when I walked out to join the rest of the class last.

"There was a mistake with my costume, that's all," I said, glaring daggers at my brother.

Aizawa sighed at me, "deal with the support company later." He was probably rolling his eyes under all those bandages.

"As I am sure that some of you experienced at the incident last week if your body is not in tip-top condition you will not be able to use your quirk at its full potential. This is of the utmost importance for power, speed, and elemental based quirks. Everyone – start running." My brother ordered. Todoroki, Bakugo, and Iida were easily able to take the lead at the front, everyone else falling in the middle and I took up the end. Damn it, I was always the slowest. "If you need to use your quirk to go faster or keep going, use it." He stopped beside me, smirked with a wag of his eyebrows and quickly overtook the top of the pack before Iida boosted up his engines. I tried to focus on my electrical impulses in my body like my brother had tried to teach me when we meditated – but I felt nothing. I bent forward and snapped my fingers down by my calf. I felt the bolt hit my bare skin and excite the cells in my body. My legs started to pump faster, and I was able to overtake Uraraka, Mineta, Hagakure, Jiro, and Koda. I did it! We kept running until everyone, but Iida was out of steam after a half hour.

"No break," my brother barked while Aizawa sat on a bench off to the side. "Push-ups, count them." I held back a groan and dropped to my knees off the track, resetting my form. I kept my focus on the ground as I rose and fell. I had been doing Kaosuke's training since I had moved to the main island just over a month ago, but I was showing little improvement in my quirk despite my body changing drastically. After about ten minutes of push-ups, my brother had us do the same number of sit-ups and pull-ups. My arms and core were throbbing in pain. "Everyone pair up!" I stood in the middle of the class, everyone already paired up. We were odd. I hung my head and made my way over to Kaosuke.

"Now," he roared, "we are going to practice some sparing. Do not use your quirks – good physique definition will come with honing your body and a strong quirk comes from your body being able to handle the abuse your quirk puts on it. Remember the first time your quirk manifested and what you can do now – that can grow even more." He turned and aimed a roundhouse kick for my head. I blocked it with my forearm and offered a right uppercut. He grabbed my fist and turned, slamming his forearm clean across my back. He made low blows. "Your turn." Everyone turned away and began their own sparing. I ducked and twisted my body to avoid my brother's attacks and to ensure my own landed. I was doing horribly.

By the time we had finished our sparing I had a nice bruise on my cheek from when my brother punched me when I miss stepped and did not dodge.

"Let's put that training to work," Aizawa said as he stood. "Let's head to Training Ground Alpha." We were all huffing as we pulled ourselves across campus to the training grounds. No one dared speak as we tried to conserve energy. All of that training that Kaosuke had put us through had not even phased him. He had not even broken a sweat. Right, even training with him one on one he never even seemed to be the least bit fatigued.

We stood just inside of the training grounds, a large cityscape of buildings and skyscrapers surrounded us. "Alright," my brother called out over us, "I will go to the other end of the city. The first one to reach me using their quirk and captures me wins." He jumped up and disappeared. Since when was he this fast?

"What are you all waiting for?" Aizawa sighed, "he's not going be waiting all day." Everyone burst past me, using their quirks to slide across the concrete, bounce from building to building, or speed through the downtown core.

Could I make a cloud? I breathed out slowly, capturing the breeze in my hands and twisted. A small cloud began to form and grew. I could finally do something without needing to be utterly ashamed. I guess this training was working after all. I knelt onto the cloud and rose above the city. I scanned the city as we moved forward, the rest of my class were just blindly heading towards the other side. Knowing my brother, he would not make it that easy. I stopped my cloud; a large dark storm cloud began to form above us. I scanned the cloud for the darkest spot, it was centred on the tallest building. That was the epicentre. I rushed forward as large blocks of hail began to fall. I directed my cloud through the basketball-sized chunks to the top of the skyscraper. I let my cloud disperse as I landed with a huff on one knee. I was not going to make the same mistake as last time with those fractures. I rolled to the side as a large block of ice rushed down on me. I quickly scanned the area as I dodge more blocks. He could see me, and I was close.

I rolled forward to dodge a block and snapped at the antenna. Lightning shock out of my fingers and ran up the centre of the building. Kaosuke jumped down from the top of the needle, aiming a punch for me. I rushed out of the way as he landed where I had been. A large crater formed, spanning two meters in diameter around him. How had I missed him growing this strong? I needed to subdue him using some defensive manoeuvres, or I was going to lose. I waited until he started towards me, first walking and then sprinting. I rushed at him, trying to go for his knees to take out his lower half and capture him that way. He leapt up, landing a punch to my chest. We both went flying right off the side of the building. Kaosuke was smiling like an idiot. We were over a hundred stories up and falling at an accelerated rate towards a concrete floor. I inadvertently let a scream erupt from my lungs. Without thinking I grabbed onto his arm and flipped us over, so I was on top. I kicked off his chest and flew upwards again – still without anything to land on.

I watched in shock as Hailstorm used his falling blocks of hail to kick off and work his way back up to me. When was my brother this ingenious with his quirk? I grunted as a blow hit my back. I must not have dodged this hail block. I rushed towards the ground, pain radiating from my back. I painfully drew in a breath and forced it out, twisting my hands to form my cloud again. My cloud stopped me just a few feet from the ground.

"Todoroki wins," Aizawa announced. I looked up to see my brother encased in an iceberg. No way. I let my head lull to the side as I massaged the spot that piece of hail had hit on my back.


	5. Sports Festival

My phone began to vibrate aggressively against the bottom of the locker. My Mother's cell number was flashing across the screen. I sighed and picked up the phone, answering the call as I made my way towards the door, "hello Mom." I placed my hand on the door and swung it open.

"Which dressing room are you in?" My Father answered from the other end as I stepped out into the hall. "Oh, we see you!" I froze as the line dropped. Shit. Shit. Shit! I spun around to see them waving at me excitedly, dressed in full pro-hero garb. I rushed towards them and pulled them around the corner.

"What do you think you're doing here," I asked, looking over my shoulder to make sure no one followed me.

My Mother clapped me on the back of the shoulder, "we came to support our daughter, silly!" She had her grey skin-tight bodysuit on with a white half-face mask to match the cloud design on her hips.

"The whole agency is watching you," my Father smiled, his bright golden hair sparkling with each nod. I hung my head. None of my classmates had been able to figure out that Hailstorm and I were related - thankfully. But if anyone saw me with these two, they would be able to quickly tell since I was the spitting image of my Mother. Present Mic came over the speakers to direct us into the arena.

"I want to do this by myself," I pleaded. "No one needs to know that you two are my parents. I love you, but I have to become a hero with my name." I clasped my hands together and bowed stiffly.

I felt a pat on my shoulder, "we are a pretty involved family of heroes – but we will always have your back when you need us. Go out there and show everyone how great your quirks are!" I thanked them, hugging them before running to the arena. I hurried through the tunnels of the building. I finally found an opening but came out near a small section of empty seats. I gripped the rail and jumped the edge, landing in a crouch before rushing to join my class.

"Where did you go," Uraraka asked, giving me a wave.

"My p-parents called to say they're watching it on T.V.," I offered them a smile and clasped my hands behind my back.

Iida looked confused, "aren't you from Musutafu?"

"No, my family lives on Hokkaido. My older brother has a j-job down here, so I live with him," I explained. It wasn't a complete lie. Present Mic began to make some announcements over the speakers as everyone moved to get ready. The first event had been rolled on the screen and revealed that it was an obstacle course. I was not fast, but I could – hopefully – dodge things.

"Whoever wins the festival will have the best internship offers," Ashido jumped on the spot. "Who do you want to be paired with Kazeya? I want Hailstorm – he was great yesterday!"

I froze, "well, I don't care about winning." Ashido and Iida looked at me as if I had five heads for a moment before they were interrupted.

"Start!"

We all rushed out of the arena and onto the dirt paths that connected all the school buildings. Todoroki created a field of ice as he ran. I leapt up as the ice crept towards me. I blew downward and twisted my body, making a cloud below me. I knelt on the cloud as it rushed over the other first years and after Todoroki. I soared over the frozen machines and the canyon effortlessly. I watched as Todoroki and Bakugo had to slow down to avoid the mines while the rest of the first years caught up. I sighed; I hope that I was not sticking out too much. I kept going, staying outside of the arena until I saw the first ten people passing by. I stopped my cloud perch and rushed into the stadium, claiming the eleventh place. I did not want to stick out too much and have my cover of who my family was blown. I was already risking it enough with just competing. Next up was a cavalry race with the top forty-two runners. Midoriya had come in first and was worth one million points, and he was going to have everyone's eyes on him. I was worth a whopping one hundred and fifty points.

"Hey, Hurricane – want to be on my team," that god awful purple haired boy, Shinso, from my previous General Studies Class, asked as he approached. Was that what they were calling me now? I shrugged and followed him. Shinso had the brainwashing quirk, so you had to be careful around him. He had pulled one of the boys from Class 1-B and Ojiro from my class. We got into position; I was the right rear horse. The time started to count down. No one wanted us; they were all focused on Midoriya and getting a million points. They never noticed us coming up from behind, Shinso asking a question, and then having them hand over their point scarves quickly. We had easily amassed one thousand one hundred and twenty-five points by the time the buzzer sounded and finished in third place. We set Shinso down and turned to the scoreboard. Todoroki's team had managed to steal Midoriya's ten million points, but someone on their side had grabbed Todoroki's six hundred and fifty point headband.

I stretched my arms above my head and walked across the length of the first waiting room, again. There were typical sports festival games for those that had not made it this far now. I sighed, pulling out my chair and sitting down, crossing my arms on the table and setting my face on my arms. Shinso would be easy to beat – he was not very physically fit and relied too much on having others do things for him with his quirk. I would need as much energy as I could save for those after. I looked up to the bracket that was displayed on the television. It was Shinso and me first, then Todoroki and Sero. I would more than likely be facing Todoroki, especially if he used an attack like the one he had used on Kaosuke the other day. Damn.

"Kazeya and Shinso, please make your way to the stage," a smaller voice called over the speakers. I lifted myself out of the chair and left the waiting room. I exited the series of halls and went to the arena. A large ring had been erected in the centre. A lighter grey ring sat inside a darker one. If we even got one foot onto the darker area, we were out. I walked to the centre of the ring, stopping about ten feet from Shinso. His droopy eyes looked at me, lazily.

"Next up is Natsume Kazeya from the Heroics class 1-A, formerly of General Studies class 1-C, and Hitoshi Shinso from class 1-C." Present Mic introduced us, "fight!" Midnight stood off to the side with her whip, watching us.

"I'll be joining you in the hero course. If it weren't for me you wouldn't have even been promoted," Shinso sighed, lifting his hands in defeat, "you're not going to hit me now, are you?" I walked towards him and grabbed his arm. I twisted into him and lifted him over my shoulder and walked to the edge of the ring while he kept asking questions and squirming to have me respond. He hit the back of my head roughly with his free hand. He was not controlling me that easily. I set him down outside of the ring.

"Natsume Kazeya wins with a five-second walkout! No quirk needed." Present Mic called out over Midnight calling the match. I blew Shinso a silent kiss and walked pass him out of the arena. Unfortunately, that would be the easiest match I would ever have. I walked out of the student section of the arena's underground and walked up the stairs to join the rest of my class.

"Kazeya – how did you know not to reply to Shinso?" Ojiro jumped up in front of me.

I blinked in surprise a few times as Todoroki versus Sero was announced. "I was his classmate before – got a few of us on the first day with that before we learned to avoid it." The speaker system sounded again, announcing Todoroki as the winner. Damn, that was quick. Ojiro returned to his seat. I took the open place on the top left and sat down. Todoroki had sent out a massive wave of ice that had frozen Sero to his spot. He was serious about winning, but he had used none of his fireside at all. Why was that? He had not used his fire quirk at U.S.J. or when my brother came to train us, and not a lick of it in the sports festival so far either. Why did he not want to use his fire? I watched as Todoroki lifted his left arm and turned his iceberg into steam. He was not frowning, but he looked so sad.

I sat and watched the rest of the first round, the lucky ones from the Calvary race were weeded out quickly. I looked over everyone, Todoroki never came to join the rest of us. I rose and left the seating area to clear my head. Todoroki was the only one besides for Class 1-C and 1-B to know about the explosive storm I had created when Shinso had made Tetsutetsu grab me from behind using his quirk. He also had the upper hand of knowing just how weak my quirk was.

If Todoroki had used such a drastic opening attack on Sero, he must want to win. He could have easily won against Sero by freezing his feet to the ground or something on a much smaller scale, but he had gone big immediately.

I ran my fingers through my hair violently trying to think of how I could even attempt to replicate that feeling. Sure, I could make my transportation cloud, but that would not help me with forcing him out of the sparing zone or hinder him. I fiddled with the extra hair ties I kept on my wrist. My sister and Mother had always had fun picking out the random strands of blonde in my dark hair. If I let too much electricity into my body instead of outputting it, those strands lit up just like my Father's hair. I had broken far too many hair ties from that.

"Todoroki and Kazeya, please make your way to the arena," that same meek voice called over the interior speakers.

I sighed, stretching my arms over my head as I walked down the hall towards the arena. It was my turn to fight against Todoroki. If this festival meant so much to him to have almost frozen half the arena alive, he could have the win. I did not care half of what he did about this. I want to be a hero to help people; being well known did not matter. The air at the end of the hall was hot. Endeavor turned the corner, "just who I wanted to see."

"What do you want?" I crossed my arms. My parents have had to work with him on a few cases, so we had unfortunately crossed paths before. He was arrogant and needed to be drop-kicked from his high horse. The controlling bigot. He was also the reason my sister was still in the hospital, to begin with.

"Your next fight is with my son. Be prepared to lose; no one in your family has the same strength that we do. You're all worthless." Endeavour clicked his tongue. I tilted my head. So, Todoroki was his son – that would explain the attitude and why he refused to use his left side for anything other than melting his ice. He was rebelling against his jerk of a Father. The kid had some smarts that did not come from his Father.

"Nice try," I looked at him coldly. "If anything, you just guaranteed your kid a loss." I pushed past him and towards the door to the arena.

"You never even used your quirk in the first round. What can it do beside for some form of transport? Runt of the Kazeya family." Endeavour sneered, thinking that I was not much. He towered a foot above me.

I did not look back or stop walking, "you'll have to watch to find out." I kept walking until I was at the entrance to the arena. I let out a slow breath. My muscles were tensed, and my pulse beat rapidly. I pooled all that anger down into a solid ball in the pit of my stomach. Please work. Present Mic announced our names on the stadium speakers, we entered from opposing sides, stopping on the light grey cement of the ring. I left my gym jacket at the steps to the arena; I preferred the ease of movement a tank top allowed more. Todoroki stood across from me, ten feet away.

"Fight," Midnight yelled. I was angry as hell was hot. I better be able to put up a decent fight. Come on, quirk – work! Todoroki automatically sent out a large stream of ice shards towards me with his right foot. I snapped my thumb and middle finger on my right hand, a large bolt of white lightning shooting out at his shards of ice, shattering them on impact. Yes!

"Looks like our little wind hero can also use lightning! How this battle has changed," Present Mic yelled over the speakers. I moved my hands in a circular motion, creating a cloud with the cold air from the ice that Todoroki had made. I spun around, throwing the cloud up into the air while he shot out another stream of ice. I shattered them with another snap of my fingers. He sent out two more streams quickly, I snapped both of my hands, breaking them in a second. Small ice crystals began to fall from the virga cloud.

He ran at me, "let's finish this quickly." He covered his right arm in ice and threw it at me. I ducked down and used my ankle to trip Todoroki, so he landed on his backside. "Why are you trying? You never cared about this festival, to begin with." He quickly got to his feet, freezing the floor to try and freeze me down. I blew downward and spun, making another cloud for me to stand on. A snowflake landed on the tip of his nose.

"I had a little conversation with Endeavor before this, said I better be prepared to lose. I told him his son has to win on his own." I jumped off the cloud, landing just out of the ice field. Todoroki was already slowing down from too many massive ice blasts – I would be slowing down soon also from using my lightning.

"I will win without using my Father's power," Todoroki frowned, sending out another blast of ice. I snapped my fingers again, breaking it. But he was behind the wave and landed a punch to my face. He covered his leg in ice but had not done his arm. My left cheekbone stung.

"Look, your Father may be an ass – but you're the one in control of your quirk. Not him. You choose how to use your quirk and what you do with it. If you don't want to harm people, then don't." I blocked his icy kick with my arm, lightning pulsing through it so my skin would not freeze. My hair tie snapped, and my long dark locks fell freely from its bun in loose waves. His jaw tightened from the electricity entering him. "You don't have to turn out like your dick of a dad." I returned his kick and hit him on his right upper arm. He grabbed my foot and pulled me towards him as he jumped back. I brought up my other leg as he pulled me and landed a kick to the side of his face. He let go of my leg. I kicked off his chest, landing on my feet as he stumbled backwards.

"Why do you care?" Todoroki grunted as he hit the ground, glaring daggers at me. He cared way too much about this tournament.

"You're not a hero if you shun half of yourself." I lifted my arms above my head, grabbed onto the air, and pulled down. The cloud that I had formed earlier that was heavy with snow crept down over us. "I want to get you fired up." The cloud covered the entire ring. I let the weight roll off my shoulders. I could feel the air shift as Todoroki tried to weave through the cloud. I let my arms float apart from each other, elbows stuck to my core. Todoroki sent out a massive iceberg in my direction. I clapped my hands together swiftly. Thunder roared through the cloud and shattered his attack. His ears would be ringing from that. Or bleeding. I snapped my fingers; lighting shot across the cloud like a ball in a pinball machine.

"I'll be a hero," Todoroki said calmly through the clouds. The air became hot and thick in an instant. My virga that resembled a jellyfish rushed back up the sky, a long dark tail forming between us before the cloud turned outward at the top like a mushroom. I stared at Todoroki; his entire left side was engorged in flames. The jerk, he had made my pretty cloud into a pyrocumulus. He smiled at me. Ice erupted from below his right foot as his flames flared out—his ice formed in square blocks instead of his rough, sharp edges. I snapped my fingers at my calves and jumped up, running across his ice blocks to reach him. My lightning enhanced legs melted the ice block as I ran. Todoroki rushed towards me. The left-arm pulled back and ready to land a punch. I rushed forward waited until he threw his punch. I ducked downward and punched him in his ribcage. He grunted, letting out a hard cough. He tried to bring his fired-up fist down on me again. I blew outward quickly and halted the downward momentum of his arm. I slipped behind him and landed an elbow to his back, right between the shoulder blades. He stumbled forward, ice spreading across his right side. His flames grew larger and brighter. I may have pushed him a tad too far.

"You know what, if this win matters so much to you – you can have it." I lifted my arms into the air, turned on my heel and walked out off his ice block on the white inner ring and onto the darker concrete dropping my arms and grabbed my gym uniform jacket. Todoroki dropped his flames and ice. Everything began to melt away.

"Shoto Todoroki wins!" Midnight announced, very confused. I kept walking out of the stadium.

"Wait, Kazeya!" Todoroki called after me.

"Uh – well, Shoto will advance onto the next round." Present Mic announced over the speakers, "if he comes back?"

"Kazeya, slow down," he yelled after me again. He must have followed me out. I kept walking, keeping my eyes in front of me. "Natsume!" I stopped mid-stride. He had never used my first name before.

"What?" I snapped, turning on my heel. He was huffing lightly. Had I pushed him too far?

He straightened himself, "thank you."

"For letting you win? As you said, I don't care –" I started to drone.

"No," he interrupted me, "for what you said about my Father. Thank you. But – you should have been the one to win."

I froze. He had finally been able to use the half of himself he rejected. "It matters more for you."

"That may be true, but you were much more logical and strategic. Your nervous stutter stopped as well." He noticed that I stuttered when I was nervous? Todoroki gave me a small smile, "next time we fight – please do not hold back." I let my eyes take in his appearance from the battle. Since he had activated his fire quirk the left half of his shirt had been seared to pieces revealing his well-toned and well-worked body. Damn.

I smiled at him, "same to you. I want to see what combinations we can make." I jumped; my phone buzzed in my jacket pocket. I pulled it out and saw my Mother was calling. I cringed, "I've got to get this. Good luck on your next fight." I rushed through the intricate order of hallways until I was sure I was out of earshot and picked up the phone.

"Natsume, answer me! Why did you just walk away from such an amazing fight!" My Mother shouted angrily into the phone.

I froze and started to stammer, "u-u-u-uh, he needed the win more than I did?" How was that sentence supposed to be a question? I gently tapped my head against the wall.

"That was amazing! We wanted to see more. Since when did you have that kind of power?!" My Father had taken the phone from my Mother, who was in the background fuming. "Come up to box seven." He hung up the phone. I stared at my chipped white android. Never had my parents been this excited for anything. I sighed, dropping my phone back into my pocket. I made my way to the V.I.P. elevator that leads to the private pro-hero boxes. I passed by boxes belonging to Best Jeanist, All Might, and of course, my parents. I opened the door of box seven; my parents were speaking excitedly as Iida fought against Shiozaki.

I gave them a few moments as the fight ended to notice me. Nothing. I gave them a wave. Still nothing. "Hey." Their heads snapped to face me. My Father's hair glowed white and gold. He was supercharged up.

"Why did you not tell us you could do all that?" My Mother gawked, crossing her arms under her bust.

I shrugged, letting myself fall onto the couch. "I didn't know I could."

My Mother thought for a moment, "it's anger, isn't it? That's what unlocked your quirk's full potential. You were never the least bit peeved as a child." I nodded.

"So, what pissed you off before that match?" My Father pipped up.

I rubbed the back of my head, "En-Endeavor came and saw me for a little visit. I guess Todoroki's his son or s-something." It did not matter what words came out of his mouth, just seeing him after he left my sister to die in that alley was enough to make my blood boil. My parents went silent. "Well, I'll go watch the rest of the fights with my class." My Mother's smartwatch began to buzz. She tapped the screen, and a hologram of a new mission request appeared above us. I stopped breathing.

Stain had attacked Ingenium in Hosu. He was on the move again. My Mother waved the request away, denying it. "Let's get you back to your class." Three more heroes were going to die.

"Thanks, but I can go myself," I said breathlessly.

"Let us at least walk down with you," My Father swung his arm around my shoulders and walked with me out of the door.

"What if people saw us," I shook my head as my Mother pushed us into the elevator with a gust of wind. She joined us, sitting cross-legged on a small cloud behind us. The elevator doors closed, and we began to descend.

"We should try dropping you off a building again," My Father smiled as we got closer to the first floor.

I moved my head as far away from him as I could, "no. You already traumatized me as a child with that we're not doing that again." I had started to show an aptitude for my Mother's wind quirk, so they had dropped me off our house to see if I saved myself. Broke my leg instead.

"But you could do it this time," my Mother laughed as the elevator doors chimed open. They rushed me out and down the hall towards where my classmates were. It was the battle between Tokoyami and Bakugo now, so everyone was excitedly watching that instead.

"Or you could just be 'electrifying'," my Father wiggled his brows as he hit me with a bolt of lightning. I glowered at him as my hair tie broke, again, and my long dark hair spilt out over my face.

"Dad," I gasped, "I just broke a hair tie. Do you know how much I spend on these?" My Father paused and focused on something behind me. I moved my hair out of my face to see who stood there. I turned to see Iida standing in the middle of the hall with a hard look on his face. I shoved the snapped band into my pocket. "How much of that did you see?"

"So," Iida pushed up his glasses, "your parents are Thunderhead and Cyclone?" Shit.

"Guys, can you give us a minute," I asked my parents. They nodded and slowly pulled themselves out of the hallway, back up the elevator to their box. "Can you keep that between us? Please?" Iida nodded

"That would mean that Hailstorm is your brother as well. ThunderStruck is your sister?" He observed me. I nodded. Not many people remembered Thunder Struck after her final fight. Ida looked down at his hands, "my brother was just transported to the hospital after he was attacked. Your sister ThunderStruck was attacked by Stain as well, how is she doing?" He looked up at me with hopeful eyes. I could not break his heart.

"She's improving little by little," I offered him a smile. "Her injuries were severe, so she's doing much better than what was anticipated. If your brother's still holding on and awake, I'm sure he'll be alright." They may not like their new definition of 'alright', but it was better than dead. He thanked me with a bow at his waist before rushing off.


	6. Hospitals

I sighed, closing my sister's door. I held onto the doorknob for a moment, feeling my heart hammering away in my chest. Please wake up.

"Natsume?" I turned my head to the left, expecting to see one of my sister's doctors or nurses. A shocked Todoroki stood outside of a closed-door about halfway down the hall. Who could he be visiting in the long-term care wing? It was weird seeing him in his casual clothes. He wore dark wash jeans, a white t-shirt, a blue button-up over the top and a black and red crossbody bag on his back.

"W-what are you d-doing here?" I stammered, pulling away from my sister's door. He stalked down to me and looked at the door. 310: _Harumi Kazeya_.

"I'm here visiting my Mother – she's in 315," Todoroki said, pointing behind him with his thumb. "Is Harumi your Mother?"

I froze, "uh, no. She's my sister. She was in an accident with a v-villain a few years ago and has been in a c-coma since." Todoroki frowned but just nodded. "How's your Mother?"

He gave me a small smile, "much better than the last time I saw her."

"That's fantastic!" We stood in awkward silence for a moment before I word vomited, "if you're not busy, d-do you want to come over for a bit?" My brother was out working, so there was no way the two would run into one another. I had yet to try to hang out with anyone in our class out of school. Todoroki looked over his shoulder back at his Mother's room with a small smile before nodding. We walked in silence out of the hospital and down the street towards where most of the apartment complexes were.

"Has your sister been improving?" Todoroki spoke after a few moments of silence.

I sighed as we walked along, "s-slowly. Her body is as healed as it can be, so now we're just waiting for her to w-wake up. She won't be able to walk again so she won't be able to return to her life prior either." We turned down a side street lined with small two-story homes with gated front yards. "So – we get our internships next week. Do you have a preference for where you want to be?"

"Probably my Father's agency. I do not want to be at the same agency as him after graduation – but it would be a good training opportunity since he is the number two hero." Todoroki explained.

"He never lets anyone forget that he's the second-best hero now, does he," I asked as we stopped at a brass nameplate with the kanji for Kazeya embedded in it.

Todoroki shook his head, "apparently everyone has to know that he's only second to All Might." He paused for a moment as we entered the gated front yard and walked to my door. "Do you want to be the number one hero?"

I fumbled with the keys, "I'm fine just knowing that I'm helping people who need it. Who cares if you're the best or not?" I slipped my key into the lock; it did not click open. Had Kaosuke forgotten to lock the door again? I swear he'd lose his head if I did not duct tape it on every day for him. I pulled the door open and let Todoroki in first before shutting the door behind myself and taking my shoes off.

"Natsu! Your home," my brother yelled from the living room, "you left me without anything to eat. How is your dear older brother supposed to fend for himself after fighting villains all day?" I sighed; he was home for once. Please – for the love of all that is holy – do not be in your hero costume. Todoroki slipped his shoes off as my brother came running around the corner.

"Your brother is Hailstorm?" Todoroki spoke after a moment of silence. Kaosuke must have been too lazy to take off his costume after he got home and expected to lounge around all day, again. He was an idiot.

"Wow – my baby sister is finally bringing friends over, and it's a guy of all people," he sneered wagging his eyebrows. I blew at him, forcing him to go flying down the hall. He had been having me train by blowing up and popping balloons at first before graduating to car tires. It had helped tremendously.

"Kao make your self useful and change," I groaned, leaving my bag on the entrance stand and walked into the living room, Todoroki following me. I heard him pull himself together and make his way upstairs. "Yeah, Hailstorm is my obnoxious can't do anything for himself brother." He always looked and acted super cool and sophisticated in public, but he was a child at home. I plopped down on the sofa, straightening out the throw Kaosuke had messed up.

Todoroki nodded, looking at the family photos hung around, "so your parents are Thunderhead and Cyclone. They work on Hokkaido, don't they? Did you grow up there as well?" Crap, I had forgotten that there were a few photos of my family in their hero garb. He stopped in front of a photo we had taken last year of our impromptu birthday party in Harumi's hospital room. The entire family was there clad in cheap party hats and a red velvet cake, her favourite.

"Yeah, we grew up in Asahikawa together. Kaosuke moved out here when he got a job at Fat Gum's agency with Harumi who was already at an agency out here. I applied to U.A. so I could be closer to this loser," I sighed, placing the neatly folded throwback on the arm of the sofa. I stood up and padded across the hardwood to the kitchen, opening the fridge and cupboard. Good – the items we needed for lunch and dinner were still there.

"How is Haru doing?" Kao jumped down the stairs and leapt over the back of the sofa and onto the couch, the throw I had just fixed falling off the edge. He had changed into a black button-up shirt and plain blue jeans.

"No change since last week," I said, taking out the ingredients we needed for lunch. "Pulse is good, breathing with the machine still, and her brain functions have plateaued."

"Any toe movement?" Todoroki had moved to a different wall of pictures.

"Nothing."

"You're in the same class as Natsu, aren't you?" Kao's attention switched to Todoroki.

"Shoto Todoroki." I saw him nod and bow slightly from my position at the cutting board, slicing the chicken into three-inch pieces.

"Oh! You're the ice and fire guy that won against Natsu."

"I would not count that as a victory."

"Hey, Natsu – I like this boy, he's smart."

I tossed the chicken into a bowl with a light garlic soy marinade. "Good," I called as I washed my hands and the cutting board before filling up a pot with water, placing it on the stove.

"Since Natsu complained about my costume design – why don't you help me decide which sexy number to put her in!" Kaosuke smiled, pulling out a large art pad from inside the convertible coffee table. I watched as Todoroki picked up the throw and repositioned it just as I had it before sitting on the sofa together with my brother. I placed a pan with oil on the stove as well, setting that to high heat.

"I want everything covered," I said, filling a bowl halfway with ice. I quickly set about chopping the bok choy and washing it. I pulled out another bowl and began to create a cold soba sauce.

"You're making us sad Na-chan," my brother pouted. I rolled my eyes, tossing the separated soba noodles into the water and placed the chicken karage in the pan.

"Perfect." I watched the soba pulse in the boiling water until it looked perfect and spidered it out into the ice bath I had set aside. I turned the karage and threw the bok choy in the soba water. I got three sets of dishes out and set the high-top marble table. I split the cold soba between three bowls and ladled the sauce over the top. I turned the karage again. I went over to the fridge and pulled out the large salad mix I prepared for us every week, splitting it between our bowls and spooning some homemade pineapple dressing over the top.

"I love that – it'll look so good on Natsu." My brother cooed loudly. I hung my head as I blanched the bok choy and added it to the cold soba bowls. If my brother liked something, it had to be perverted. I grumbled, finishing the karage as Kaosuke and Todoroki talked lowly about their recreation of my hero costume.

"Lunch is done," I popped my head into the living room. My brother held the art pad close to his chest and stuck out his tongue. "I set an extra place if you want to join us."

Todoroki smiled as Kaosuke sneakily hid the art pad back in the table, "I would love to." The two made their way into the kitchen and found a seat at the high-topped table. "Zaru Soba?"

"It's my favourite," Kaosuke said with a mouth full already. I sent him a glare as I sat in the empty seat.

Todoroki gave us both a small smile, "it's mine as well." I shared his small smile as we both picked up our chopsticks and dug in.

"Wait," I said after swallowing my bite. "Why are you home? Didn't you have patrol or something today?"

Kaosuke answered with his mouth full of soba again, "I switched to night patrol in Hosu."

"You're not doing that," I said firmly, my shoulders tensing. Kaosuke swallowed his mouthful and tried to argue, "we already have one hero in the family in the hospital – we're not losing two Kazeya's to Stain." His phone began to ring. He stuck his chopsticks in his mouth and pulled out his phone. He looked at it for a moment before scarfing down the rest of his lunch. Todoroki kept taking small bites and watched us.

Kaosuke swallowed, jumping out of his chair and ran upstairs. I apologized to Todoroki and rushed after him, "what's wrong?"

My brother ran down the stairs in his hero costume, "kidnapping in progress!" With that, he was out the door. I let out a sigh and returned to the kitchen, taking a moment to clean up Kaosuke's dishes and put them into the dishwasher with the rest of the dishes from lunch. I sat back down at the table. Todoroki had eaten half of his soba and was nibbling away on a skewer of karage. We ate in silence until we were both done.

"Am I right to assume that Harumi is ThunderStruck?" Todoroki put down his finished skewer.

I nodded. "It's been two years since she was attacked, and she still hasn't woken up. She's made some slight progress - just last month she started to twitch her fingers in her sleep inadvertently. We've been keeping an eye on her toes for that same response, but with the spinal fracture she sustained she may never be able to walk again if she did wake up." I began to clean up our dishes. Todoroki took his own and followed me to the dishwasher, putting his own in without letting me treat him as a guest.

"Is that why you decided to become a hero?"

"Everyone else in my family is a hero, even my grandparents. It's kind of the family business now." I crossed my arms and leaned against the counter.

"You transferred in from the general studies course though. Why even apply for general studies?"

I puffed out my cheeks, "I was recommended for the hero course. I declined it and applied for general."

"Why?" Todoroki was genuinely confused and tilted his head. "You belong in the hero program."

"I didn't think I was good enough." I blurted. I quickly covered my mouth with both of my hands; eyes wide.

"Good enough? You can make storms appear and create lightning with a snap of your fingers."

"I couldn't do any of that before. I didn't even know I could. Everyone else in my family is amazing with their quirks and can cause so much damage with the smallest motion. I couldn't even blow a leaf off a tree before."

"And you figured out that you could do so by having someone grab you?"

My face felt hot and flushed immediately. I put my arms out in front of me, waving them erratically while I shook my head. "That's not it! Shinso used his brainwashing quirk on Tetsutetsu when our classes did a joint exercise. He got him to grab me from behind and well…" I trailed off, "I destroyed battle centre D."

Todoroki was quiet for a long moment. "That was you?" My hurricane that I made inadvertently that day had been all over the news since it randomly appeared over Musutafu without warning.

I nodded slowly, "Principal Nezu and Vlad think that my quirk is triggered by anger. And, since I had never been angry before I never knew that my quirk could be so strong."

"You've never been angry before?" Todoroki watched me, surprise over his face. I shook my head. He gave me a smile and closed his eyes. "That must be nice to never feel anger."

"What do you mean?" Todoroki turned and made his way back to the living room. I followed him, sitting down on the couch beside him.

"My father, Endeavor, is a very angry and abusive man. He forced my Mother into a quirk marriage and tried to create a child with both of their quirks who could surpass All Might. My father abused both my Mother and me. My Mother eventually broke from all his abuse and burnt my left side with hot water since it reminded her so much of my father. He retaliated and put her in the hospital. Today was the first time since then that I've seen my Mother." Todoroki frowned. "That's why I refused to use my left side – I only wanted to be a hero that used my Mother's quirk. But, with what you said during our fight, maybe I can be a hero who uses both sides."

"How did it go, with your Mother?" I spoke after a moment. It was easy to see him treating his own family horrendously with his attitude. The mental scars that were left on his family – especially his own wife's must be deep.

He gave me another small smile, "she gave me the hope and advice I needed to pursue my own path as a hero." I returned his smile about to speak when his phone went off. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked it. "My dad's on his way home. I should go." We both stood up, and we walked to the front door.

"See you in class tomorrow?" I watched as he slipped his shoes on.

He looked at the closed door for a moment before turning to face me again, "do you want to walk to school together?" I froze. "I pass by your street on the way to the train."

"Uh, s-sure." I nodded.

His smile grew, "see you tomorrow morning then."

"Y-yeah." I watched as he left with a wave. I closed the door behind them and let my forehead rest against the door. "What have I done?"


	7. Hero Killer

I bit the inside of my cheek as I waited for Todoroki. My brother had thankfully come home late last night and was still asleep. I stood in the garden, taking the time to set up a rain cover over some of the more delicate plants. I did not know what time Todoroki was going to come by, so I got up earlier than normal.

"Good morning Natsume," I jumped, accidentally dropping the last rain cover on Harumi's orchids. "Sorry for scaring you."

"N-n-no, I was lost in my own m-mind." I stammered, putting the rain cover in place. I had accidentally broken off one of the bright pink tolumnia. "How are you?" I picked my closed umbrella up from where I had propped it against the door and left through the gate.

He shrugged, "decent. Yourself?"

"Good," I smiled as we began to walk side by side in the rain. I fiddled with trying to put the steam into my slightly damp bun. It was such a beautiful flower that it would be a waste to leave it to rot.

Todoroki stopped, "let me help."

"S-s-sure," I stammered, slowly letting his hands cover my own as he took the tolumnia steam. It only took him a few seconds to put it into my bun. "Thanks." He kept his umbrella over us while I opened my own.

"Why do you never wear your hair down?" He looked over at me.

I felt heat rush to my cheeks, "I guess I just prefer it up?" Damn it, why did that come out like a question.

"You should wear it down more often." He looked forward again.

"O-okay," I forced out. He looked back at me and gave me a small smile before looking forward again. We walked in silence to the train and for the rest of the five-minute walk from the station to school. We parted at the lockers after we put our umbrellas into their own storage unit, my own was still with 1-C and had not been moved. I slipped off my wet vans and slipped into a pair of white lace toms. I frowned, maybe my brother was right – I was too plain. I looked up; Todoroki was waiting for me. I grabbed my white backpack and hurried towards him, "sorry for making you wait." He shook his head. We started up the stairs together in silence again. Shoto opened the classroom door and motioned with his head for me to go first. I thanked him with a slight nervous bow and entered the classroom

"Natsume," Mina yelled, grabbing onto my shoulders and swung us around in a circle, "did you get recognized too?"

I raised my brow, "recognized from what?"

"Your awesome performance at the sports festival! I was stopped on the train this morning to sign an autograph," Mina smiled, batting her eyelashes. I shook my head. I did not remember anyone giving us odd looks or stopping us.

"We were," Todoroki answered from behind me, "you were just in your own world." I gasped, covering my mouth with a hand.

"Wait – Natsume," Uraraka bounded towards us, "that's a beautiful flower! What is it?"

"I-it's a tolumnia orchid. My sister keeps them in her garden. I accidentally knocked this one off this morning and did not want it to go to waste." I explained, holding my bag close to my chest.

"Settle down everyone," Aizawa groaned as he walked into class. He was bandage free with a new scar just under his right eye. I rushed over to my lone seat and sat down, staring at the top of my desk. Todoroki took a moment to make his way to his desk on the other side of the class while everyone kept talking. "Settle down! We're having a class today on hero informatics. You all need codenames. Time to pick your hero identities." Everyone cheered, chattering excitedly.

Aw crap. Everyone in my family had an alias to do with their weather-controlling quirk. I was a blend of both Thunderhead and Cyclone which complicated matters.

Aizawa activated his quirk, his hair flying upwards. Everyone quieted right down. I kept my gaze on my desk. "This is related to the pro-hero draft picks I mentioned the last time we were in class together. Normally students don't have to worry about the draft yet, not until their second or third year. Your class is different. In fact, by extending these offers, they are investing in your potential. Any offers can be rescinded if their interest in you dies down. Here is the list of those that got offers." I kept my gaze on my desk. There was no way I got any offers outside of my parents. "In past years it's been more spread out. But there's a pretty big gap this time."

"Todoroki got the most ahead of Bakugo?" Jiro mused. I kept my eyes trained on my desk.

"They probably weren't excited to be working with the guy who had to be chained up at the end," Sero said with a laugh.

"Those pros are just weak!" Bakugo yelled.

"Despite these results, you'll all be interning with pros, even those of you who didn't get any offers. You all got some experience at the attack on U.S.J. but it will be beneficial to see pro heroes at work in the field firsthand. These hero names will likely be temporary but take them seriously or-"

The door slammed open and Midnight walked in, "you'll have hell to pay later! What you pick today could be your codename for life. You better be careful, or you'll be stuck with something utterly indecent." Her heels clicked along the ground until she stopped.

"Yeah, she's got a good point. Midnight is going to have final approval over your names. Hero names help reinforce your image and show what kind of hero you want to be in the future. Take All Might for example." Aizawa said, tapping my head with a small whiteboard. "You might want to take a look at the board." I bit my lip and finally looked at the board. Todoroki had over four thousand offers followed by Bakugo with over three thousand.

"How did I get that many offers?" I gawked, my jaw falling. Aizawa dropped the whiteboard on my desk and then moved onto the other rows. I had six hundred and thirty-one offers. I was expecting two at most, especially since I forfeited my match against Todoroki.

"You can make lightning with a snap of your fingers and control wind – I'm surprised you didn't get more offers," Midoriya smiled.

"Who's ready to share," Midnight's voice boomed throughout the class. Aoyama went first with his name of 'I can not stop twinkling'. Midnight changed it around slightly and approved. Mina hoped up next with Alien Queen, Midnight shot that down fast. Tsu went next with Froppy – it was perfect for her. Kirishima jumped up with Red Riot which was also approved. Everyone had come up with good names so far.

I wrote the name that Class 1-C had been calling me since I accidentally destroyed battle centre D and walked up to the front of the room, "H-hurricane."

"Why not something to do with your lightning quirk?" Midnight placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's flashier than your wind quirk."

I shook my head, "my old cl-classmates gave me this name – I-I think it suits me."

"Very well – Hurricane." Midnight winked. I sat back down at my desk, the rest of the class going. Todoroki only wrote down his first name, he must not have a name in mind yet. Bakugo wanted to be King Explosion Murder. It was more suited for a villain than a hero and was turned down by Midnight and the rest of the class in an instant. Midoriya went with the name that Bakugo always yelled at him angrily, Deku, while Iida chose his first name as well. Bakugo tried Lord Explosion Murder and was booed by the class.

"Now that we've all got some hero names; your internships will last for one week. For who you'll be working with, those with offers will get to choose from their list. The rest of you will have a different list of forty agencies that have agreed to take on interns from our school. Each agency has a different speciality that their heroes focus on." Aizawa explained holding a large stack of paper.

"Imagine you were Thirteen for example – you might want to choose a rescue-based agency rather than a villain fighting one due to the volatility of her quirk." Midnight mused.

"Think carefully before you decide," Aizawa warned before he handed out the papers. "Turn in your choices before the weekend." I stared down my list. A lot of the agencies that had sent in offers were for extreme weather disasters or rescues. Sure, my quirk could be useful for those events, but that was not want I wanted to do. I sighed, crossing my arms on my desk and laying my head on my forearms.

"Who are you going to intern with," Todoroki asked as stood beside my desk. I kept my head on my arm on top of the desk and handed him the list of agencies. While he had over four thousand offers, I only had six hundred in comparison. Still – it was way more than I expected I would ever get. "My Father gave you an offer?"

I nodded against my arm. "So did my parent's, my brother's, and my sister's agencies."

"Which one are you going to take?" Todoroki continued to scan my offers.

I sighed, lifting my head to look at him properly, "I don't want to take any of them." He gave me a quizzical look. "I'll do an internship and work-study – but I want to run my own agency when we graduate."

Todoroki gave me a smile, "that's a lofty goal."

[W&F]

"It's a pleasure to have Harumi's little sister at our agency," Catastrophe gave a hearty laugh as he slapped me on the back. Catastrophe was a large man in build, like All Might and Endeavor. He looked as if he had been chiselled out of a cliff with his angular features. "I was excited to see that you finally figured out how to work your quirk!"

"That's part of the reason why I picked you," I said, rubbing the back of my head with one hand. The other held onto my costume's case. "My quirk is activated with anger-"

Catastrophe burst out laughing. "You? Angry? That's the worst combination!" He kept laughing until the building began to shake. He stopped, coughing once into his elbow. "Well, you chose the best place to be. My quirk activates the same way, but if you can mimic the feeling of anger you can use that level of devastation from the sports festival and more. So, what made you angry for the first time?"

Heat rushed across my cheeks. "One of my old classmates forced another student to grab me." Catastrophe looked at me and blinked.

"What about at that U.S.J. incident, Hailstorm said you took out a good chunk of those villains?"

"I had a classmate do the same thing."

"What about the sports festival?"

"I met Endeavor."

Catastrophe frowned, "he would make anyone here angry." He placed his hand on my shoulder, it covered my entire left collarbone and shoulder blade. "Get changed into your costume and we'll work on how to make you angry!" I nodded with an awkward smile, heading towards the change rooms.

I placed the case down on the bench once I was inside, opening the latches. The lid sprang up. It was different. I froze. This had to be the version that Todoroki had designed with my brother that day. I quickly picked up the costume and stared at it. Okay, it was not that revealing. I slipped into the black rubberized suit. The shorts still came to about two inches below my butt. The top portion of the one-piece suit had changed from the sweet-heart neckline of a wedding dress to a halter. I pulled on the gold cropped jacket, it shone just like my father's hair when he was electrified. My black boots were the same, mid-calf high with metal plates on the bottom. I had a support item this time though. I slipped on the small pair of black fingerless gloves with a metal plate on the back of the hand. I studied them before putting my case and school clothes away. I could see wiring in the glove, but I did not know what it was for. I exited the change room and entered the main training area of Catastrophe and his sidekicks.

"Wow! It is ThunderStruck's little sister," a man with round clouded googles waved at me. "I can't believe you chose us after that fight!"

"Y-yeah, hi," I said after a moment, clasping my hands behind my back.

"I'm Hindsight! I look forward to working with you this week," he bowed deeply at the waist. I stammered for a moment before returning the same deep bow.

Catastrophe scoffed from the doorway, "anger. Still can't believe that." I began to get even more flustered. I retreated to the back corner, face flushed red with embarrassment. "Meditation time, boys!" Catastrophe took a seat at the front of the room, facing all twenty of his sidekicks. Harumi was the first female sidekick he had ever taken, and I was his first internship. I fell in line at the back of the room, sitting with my legs crossed. Everyone closed their eyes and worked on breathing in sync. I complied, listening for their inhales and exhales. I found the pattern quickly. In for ten then out for ten. Catastrophe was a large, brutish man – but he found joy and solace in the small relaxing things. After the group guided mediation, he dismissed everyone to go on patrol or attend to on-going missions. We stayed in the training area, Catastrophe and I seated cross-legged in front of one another.

"Close your eyes."

I complied.

"I want you to feel where there is any tension in your body."

My back was full of tension, especially around my shoulder blades. I also carried tension in my jaw, it was tight.

"Keep your tension and try to spread it across your body."

I let my tension spread over my back, down into my hips and up into my skull.

"Focus on your heartbeat."

I ignored the tension in my body and located my pulse without moving. It was at my average, slow resting rate.

"Try to speed it up."

I slowly kept that same ten in, ten out breathing pace. With each intake, my heart rate increased until it was hammering away at my ribcage. My face began to feel hot; my palms grew sweaty. My jaw clenched. My stomach dropped.

"Open your eyes. I want you to attack that post behind me with all you've got." I opened my eyes; Catastrophe was pointing to a wooden practice pole like what we had back at home. I stood up swiftly. I spun a small ball in my hands, spun on my heel and used my arm in a slicing motion diagonally across the post. The wind rushed forward, a clean slice diagonally across the post. "What about your lightning?"

I snapped my fingers and a large bolt of white lightning shot out and struck the post, it burnt a hole right through it and left a scorch mark on the opposing wall. I stood shocked – there was no way I had done that. "No – way, I did it. I caused some damage!" I clapped my hands together and bowed to Catastrophe.

"Hey, that's just a small part of what you can do. We need to make sure that you can make your body think it's angry when it matters the most." He frowned, "unfortunately if you can't replicate it when you need it the most you may be in danger."

I swallowed hard, thinking back to my sister lying in that hospital bed still unable to wake up. "Absolutely!"

He let out a hearty laugh, "let the training begin!"

I laid on the floor of the training room, packages of takeout surrounding Catastrophe and I. Day one had been all training to mimic anger and then how to use it. Day two we focused on maintaining that state of anger and using. Today, we had gone on patrol through the city. A car had hit a telephone pole, thankfully I was able to pick up the cable and use my cloud to hold me up in the air so I could fix the wires and mend them. We had also managed to stop two separate convenience store robberies.

"I am so full," I whined patting my belly. I was so used to cooking my own meals that it was a nice change to just indulge.

"Boss," Hindsight yelled as he ran into the room holding a tablet. "Strange creatures are attacking Hosu! They're requesting any and all available heroes." I sat upright.

"We'll head out first! Let's go Hurricane!" Catastrophe grabbed my bicep and leapt out the window onto a moving train. He was even more reckless when the cameras were not turned on him. We stayed on top of the moving train as we neared Hosu city, flames and smoke billowing up. Could these creatures be the same as the one that tried to kill All Might? No – it couldn't be.

We jumped off the train into the city streets. A large black skinned creature with a bird-like face and exposed brain stalked down the road towards us. It was the same creatures. This had to be the League of Villains.

"Hurricane – I'll keep fighting this one-off, go help by any means necessary." Catastrophe yelled, ripping up a streetlight and bent it into a hammer. I nodded, creating a cloud below me and rushed off above the buildings. There were four Nomu around the city that many pro-heroes were fighting. I bit my lip. Last time the villains had used a Nomu in an attempt to kill All Might. If they still had some versions of Nomu left – they would have the perfect cover if released on the city. I rushed away from the main disaster zones, if that was the case, they would have their Nomu's attack away from their goal.

I heard a familiar voice cry out below, "Ingenium!" That was Iida's older brother's hero name. I rushed in the direction of the cry. I stopped and hid on the top of one of the buildings when I found them. Iida had been knocked to the ground. Stain, the Hero Killer had the local pro-hero Native by the face and brandished one of his many knives. This was bad. Iida wanted revenge for what Stain had done to his brother. That had to be why he chose Hosu for his internship. I felt the same way when Stain had injured my sister. Iida would need help to fight or run away – regardless of whichever option he chose.

Stain dropped Native who was bleeding profusely by the shoulder and placed his foot on Iida's head, rambling about how he let his brother live on purpose. He plunged his knife into Iida's shoulder and licked the blood off. I channelled my lightning into my legs and leapt down, landing a solid kick to Stain's face. I felt my heart rate quicken and my muscles tense. Yes! Now to keep this up.

"Kazeya? What are you doing here," Iida asked through gritted teeth.

I brought my hands up in a defensive fashion, "checking on what this distraction could be hiding." I snapped my fingers and my lightning hit his knife. It quickly grew hot, so he was forced to let go after the electricity that had been pulsed through him had grounded itself.

"You are two naïve wannabe heroes." Stain laughed, grabbing another one of his knives.

"Get out of here Kazeya," Iida pleaded, "this is my fight."

I shook my head, snapping my fingers again and hitting his knife, "you may be fighting for your brother – but I am fighting for my sister who's still fighting for her life." Stain sneered as he eyed me top to bottom.

"Let me guess – you're Thunder Struck's younger sister." Stain licked his lips his with long gecko-like tongue. He rushed towards me, taking out one of his knives. I kicked my left leg up, smashing against his wrist. I darted forward and grabbed the knife from his hand. I turned into him, grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and threw him over myself. He landed easily on his feet on the other side of Iida.

"Don't let him cut you," Iida said lowly as he accepted that I was not just going to run. Stain took out another knife, jumped up the wall and began to dive on top of me. I jumped back from his attack. He swung at me, rotating his own body about to prevent another throw. I spun the opposing way, landing another electrified kick to the side of his head. He stumbled to the side for a moment before lunging at me with his knife. I took the knife I had stolen and blocked his attack, he grumbled, quickly throwing his knife at me. It sliced my cheek. Stain rushed at me, but a glowing punch hit him square in the face. Midoriya landed a few feet in front of us with a smile. He pulled out his phone behind his back – sending his location to someone. What was he plotting?

"Deku? What are you doing here?" I gawked as Stain grabbed another of his knives. I had forced him to lose four of them already and he was not retrieving them. He had at least another twenty on his person. I felt my phone in my shorts vibrate. He must have sent it to everyone in his phone – or at least the class.

"I found Manual and he said that Iida had left so I put two and two together and started searching every ally for you. Though, I'm glad that Hurricane was here too." Midoriya said without looking back at us. His entire body began to glow. What was this? He rushed toward Stain who had one knife above his head and was reaching for another to come down on Midoriya. He rushed between Stain's legs and leapt above him, landing a glowing punch to his head before landing on all fours in front of us again. Stain stood back up, placed his knife to his mouth and licked it. Midoriya was unable to move. So that was how his quirk worked. Don't let him cut you, and don't let him lick any blood.

I moved and stood in front of Midoriya, "my turn." I lifted both of my arms up and snapped my fingers, two bolts of white lightning twisted together before they hit Stain's knife. He rushed towards me and grabbed my throat. He had thrown his knife forward, so it hit that instead of him. Shit. He slammed me against the cement wall, squeezing my throat with his left hand. He pulled a knife from his waist and held it up.

"You're worse than your sister. But you're no 'hero' like her." Stain sneered aiming his knife at my cheek. Damn it, I did not have much air in my lungs. I blew out as hard as I could into his face and snapped my finger. My vision was darkening at the edges. "What the hell is this?" He dropped me, leaping away from the mini storm cloud that I had made. I coughed, trying to fill my lungs with air again. The small cloud followed him, raining and thundering above. He grabbed my head in one of his large hands and pulled me up against the wall harshly, my vision was still cloudy. He placed his knife against my throat, ignoring my little ragging storm cloud. The little air I did have could not do much. He let go of me and leapt up as a large plume of fire rushed through the ally. Endeavour? I stood on my own feet, using the wall for balance while turning to look in the direction of the fire. No – it was Todoroki holding up his cellphone. Thank you Midoriya.

"You're using your left side," I smiled, holding my throbbing head with the hand that was not holding onto the brick wall.

He nodded at me, lighting up his left arm and rushed towards Stain, "the pros will be here soon." Midoriya informed Todoroki about Stain's quirk. Stain quickly threw a knife at Todoroki's cheek, cutting it, while throwing a sword into the air. He grabbed Todoroki's collar and tried to use his gecko-like tongue to lick his blood but was almost burned by Todoroki. I needed to help, I twisted my hands to funnel the air towards Stain, lighting up Todoroki's flames even hotter. Todoroki blocked a knife with a shield of ice, but Stain cut down the shield with one slice and then threw two knives that embedded themselves in Todoroki's left arm. My head was still reeling but I could fight. I reached up as high as I could, acting as if I had gripped a blanket in my hands and pulled down against a heavyweight. I pulled one of the clouds full of soot and smoke from above down and over us. This would be my advantage. I passed by Todoroki – gently touching his back and telling him to stay back.

"So – you can control the weather." Stain mused from inside the cloud. "That's an interesting quirk, much better than your sister. I wish I could have let you live but this is far too much of a hassle now." I snapped my fingers, letting out a sharp blade of white lightning towards Stain. He dodged it, but he was wracked by the horrible thunder that came after, his eardrums either burst or will with another.

"We will not let you kill anyone ever again," I growled. I gasped out in pain; he had managed to plunge one of his knives into my thigh. I grabbed his wrist and sent bolt after bolt of lightning into him. He attempted to pull my hand off his wrist, but I pressed the centre of his wrist, forcing the hand that had stabbed my thigh to go limp. The cloud cover I had pulled down dissipated as my concentration wavered. He took out another knife and started to aim for my head. I snapped my fingers on my free hand. The lightning hit his knife and it fell to the ground.

"Stop making me waste knives!" Stain growled. I quickly shifted my weight since his grip was off the knife in my thigh. I pulled my injured leg around my body and landed a solid electrified kick to his head. I let go of Stain's wrist and he went flying into the wall.

"Natsume!" Todoroki gasped. Stain was smoking ever so slightly from the bolts of electricity going through him. Midoriya was able to move again and had landed another punch to the centre of Stain's face against the wall. Damn my brother to decide to not include pants or a first aid kit in this thing. I tried to back away from Stain and Midoriya, but my leg was beginning to feel heavy from the pain. Shit. Stain tried to escape up the taller building now that Iida was beginning to move again. Iida shifted into his high gear reciprio and Midoriya powered up his own hit as the two rushed after him, both delivering powerful blows to his gut and face. Stain tried to swing his sword at Iida again. I snapped my fingers at the same time as Todoroki and Iida also fired strong attacks. The two landed safely on the ground while Stain did not move. They did it. They brought Stain down. I held onto the wound he had inflicted and limped towards the group, using the wall for balance. Todoroki withdrew some capture tape from his belt and had begun to restrain Stain. A long trail of blood flowed down Todoroki's arm, a small pool forming below his fingertips.

"We need to get you two to a hospital," Iida frowned at my blood-drenched leg and Todoroki's bloody arm. Native was now able to move again and was carrying Midoriya on his back since he had injured one of his legs.

"I'll be fine," I insisted, "a little blood never killed no one."

"That's not a little," Todoroki looked at me annoyed as he handed Iida the restraints to Stain. He knelt and gently examined the cut. It was at least three inches deep and two inches wide. He took out a small first aid kit from his hip and took out a piece of gauze, wiping away the blood. It came back in a few seconds. "We need to get you to the hospital, now."

"A tourniquet will be fine for now," I smiled, pointing to the triangular bandage in his kit and a discarded pen in the ally. He wanted to disagree with me, that was certain from how his brow furrowed and the attempt he made to speak before frowning and passing me the pen. He opened the triangular bandage and refolded it before wrapping it around my thigh, a few inches from the cut. I placed the pen in to act as the key and twisted. I kept turning until my wound stopped bleeding. It was tight and it hurt worse than the knife but it would keep me from bleeding out. I wrote the time on the bandage and beside the wound on my exposed skin. Todoroki put his first aid kit away and turned around.

"Get on," he instructed.

My face dropped in shock, "you w-want me to w-what?"

"I'm not letting you walk with that. I'm going to be your legs for you," Todoroki insisted. I hesitated before complying. He easily lifted me up and carried me out of the ally, his hands supporting under my thighs. He was very careful to grab above the tourniquet. I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"We need to get you checked out too," I cut in as we exited the ally. Iida dragged Stain behind us.

Todoroki scoffed, "they're just scratches."

"Mine is just a scratch," I retorted, looking down at his bloodied arm.

"No, it's not!" He was annoyed. I pouted and rested my head on top of his. Midoriya and Native had stopped next to the road to speak with a small, elderly man in a yellow and white suit and cape.

A group of sidekicks rushed towards us. "Endeavor sent us here to help – those wounds look really serious. Call an ambulance," the hero with what resembled a broom for a head spoke as the group of five stopped in front of us.

"Hey, that's the Hero Killer," the girl in a green leotard gapped. "Call the police too."

The hero in a red face mask smirked as he looked over each of us, "to think four high school interns took down the infamous Stain."

"The ambulance will be there soon," the broom headed hero announced.

"Get down!" The yellow suited and capped elderly hero ordered. We looked up to the sky, a flying Nomu that was bleeding from his head was nosediving on us. He swooped down stole Midoriya right off Native's back. I was frozen as it took less than a second for Stain to come free from his hold, lick Nomu's blood off Native's cheek and rush in to attack the flying Nomu. No way – he was not this fast and skilled when we fought him moments ago. We would be done for if we had to fight him again. The sidekicks all got ready to fight. I tried to get Todoroki to put me down, but he refused for now.

"What are you all doing standing in a group," a deep malicious voice roared. I turned my head to see Endeavor rushing in with his flames a blazing. "Don't tell me – that's Hero Killer."

Stain stood, ignoring Midoriya and started to stalk towards Endeavor. "Come! Try to get me you fakes! The one and only hero is All Might!" Stain's mask had fallen. I could not breathe. It felt like a heavy and sinister pressure was weighing down on me, preventing me from moving or even taking in a little air. Just as it started, the feeling vanished. Stain's eyes had rolled back into his head revealing the yellowed whites of his eyes. He had become unconscious on his feet. Todoroki stumbled as Iida and a few of the sidekicks fell in surprise to the ground. I gently squeezed his shoulder. He relaxed.


	8. Aftermath

Catastrophe pushed my wheelchair from my private room to the one the boys had been set up in. As soon as the doctors and nurses had seen my makeshift tourniquet on my left leg, they had taken me off to surgery to remove it and fix the internal damage that both Stain and I had caused. The local police chief was also accompanying us – we were no doubt in heaps of trouble.

Grand Torino, the older hero that Midoriya had spoken with last night, pulled their door open without knocking, "oh, are you wounded kids awake?" He and Manual entered before Catastrophe wheeled me inside.

"Natsume!" Midoriya shot up in his bed, all the boy's eyes fixated on the wheelchair.

"I'm fine," I laughed a little too loud. "A-apparently I'm not allowed around without this thing after surgery. I can w-walk just fine though." I stood up on my right leg for a moment before Catastrophe forced me back down in the chair.

Todoroki frowned, "how did the surgery go?"

"They w-were able to get in there and r-repair the main vein that Stain had cut." I gave them a smile, setting my elbow on the armrest and resting my chin in the palm of my hand.

"Hurricane." Catastrophe flicked the back of my head, "what do you think ThunderStruck'd say when she wakes up?" I huffed.

Grand Torino frowned, "I've got a lot of complaints for you, but you have a visitor." The police chief entered. "Meet Kenji Tsuragamae." He was taller than the door frame and had a canine mutation quirk. Shoto and Iida stood up while Midoriya scooted to the edge of his bed. I stood up on my right leg in order to bow properly only to be forcibly seated again by Catastrophe.

"Regarding the Hero Killer Stain that you four brought down last night, he had serious injuries, broken bones and various burns. He is receiving treatment under strict guard. Since you are U.A. students, I am sure you already know that when quirks were becoming the norm we made sure that quirks were not used as weapons. The profession of hero rose to fill that gap. Those quirks that could kill easily were used for good and regulated. Even up against the Hero Killer – for three uncertified individuals to cause injury to another with their quirks without specific instructions from their guardians or supervisors is a grave violation of these rules. The three of you, Endeavor, Manual, and Gran Torino will receive a strict punishment," Tsuragamae said easily staring down the three boys. Wait – Catastrophe and I were left off that list.

"Wait a minute," Todoroki glared at the chief of police. "If Iida had not done anything than Native would've been killed. If Kazeya and Midoriya had not arrived the two of them would have been killed. No one had realized that the Hero Killer had appeared. Are you saying that the rules should be followed even if people get killed?" Anger was dripping off him.

Tsuragamae did not waver, "are you saying that it is okay to bend the rules as long as it turns out all right?"

Todoroki looked taken aback but quickly regained his furious demeanour, "isn't it a hero's job to save people?"

"And that is why you are not a full-fledged hero yet," Tsuragamae spoke. "My goodness, what are you being taught by U.A. and Endeavor?" That only angered Todoroki more.

"You dog!" He growled as he advanced on him.

Iida tried to stand in his way, "stop it – he's right." Iida had both of his arms cast and wrapped in badges in front of his chest.

"Hang on a minute," Grand Torino sighed, "just hear him out."

Tsuragamae spoke again, "that was the official opinion of the police. A punishment and such would only be made if all of this were to be public, no? If this were made public, you would be seen as heroes but still given the punishment. Or, we can have Endeavor take the credit and the day would end there. This would mean that no one would know of your achievements or your good judgement. Which do you prefer?" The three boys all stared at Tsuragamae in surprize.

"Wait," Midoriya spoke up, "how come Natsume and Catastrophe aren't getting punished?"

"Yeah," I frowned, "what's up with that?"

Tsuragamae turned to address me, "before your run-in with Hero Killer Stain, Catastrophe gave you permission to save anyone by any means necessary. That is enough to act as permission. But, as it would be unbelievable for one U.A. student to assist with taking down the Hero Killer, if these three choose to not make this news public – yours will also be private, although Catastrophe will still receive punishment for allowing an unlicensed hero to help without supervision. Personally, I don't want to find fault with promising young ones." He gave us a large thumbs up.

"Either way," Manual hung his head, "we will have to take responsibility in our negligence." Iida stepped forward and bowed to Manual, apologizing to him. Midoriya and Todoroki bowed their heads, asking for them to take care of it.

I went to stand on my good right leg but was forced down by Catastrophe. "How many times do we have to explain that you can't walk!" I frowned.

"As someone who also protects the peace," Tsuragamae bowed deeply at his waist, "thank you." All of the pro-heroes turned to leave with Tsuragamae through the doorway.

"Would you like to stay and speak with your friends," Catastrophe asked, wheeling me towards the door.

"Yes," I blurted out quickly. "It's quiet and boring and I'm going to drive myself insane in that room all by myself." He let out a laugh and wheeled me by the empty bed, putting the breaks on.

He walked to the door, "a second internship is always open Hurricane!" With that, he left through the open door, closing it behind himself.

Iida bowed in front of me, "sorry you are not able to take credit for what happened."

I raised a brow, "do I look like someone that likes to take credit for things? I w-would rather not. It's fine." Iida let out a sigh of relief.

Midoriya picked up a crutch and stood, "I'm going to make some phone calls – I'll be back in a bit."

"Wait, how come you're allowed a crutch," I pouted as Midoriya left. I wanted to be able to manoeuvre myself around. The wheelchair they had supplied for after surgery needed another person to grab onto the back of it and squeeze a bar to move it.

"Is your leg alright," Todoroki spoke from his spot on the end of his bed.

I nodded once, "yeah, just sliced through a vein. If we had removed his blade or not done the tourniquet I probably would have bled out. But that didn't happen so we're fine. How are your wounds?" Todoroki and Iida stared at me blankly for a moment before shaking their heads.

"I'll find out later what the extent of my injuries are." Iida was solemn. I frowned, eyeing his wrapped arms. Hopefully, there was no serious damage.

Todoroki crossed his arms, his bandaged left arm over top, "fortunately Stain did not hit anything when he threw those knives at me." Good, at least his were superficial.

"Are you going to be returning to your internship?" Iida directed that to Todoroki.

He nodded, "yeah. I want to see his face when it was his son that took down the Hero Killer instead of him." I smirked, that was bound to irk Endeavor.

"Kazeya," Iida spoke to me this time, "they said that your sister was still in the hospital – were her injuries from Stain that severe?"

I froze on an exhale for a moment. "How is your brother doing?"

Iida swallowed hard, "he's alert, but there was a large amount of damage to his spine. He won't be able to return to being Ingenium."

I nodded; Todoroki watched me intently. "Stain has a pattern. He attacks a city and the first hero he goes after is greatly injured but remains alive. The three after that attack are slaughtered. My sister was the last in the attack on Tokyo two years ago. Somehow, she still held on and has been in a coma ever since. We keep a positive outlook on her recovery, but we know she will be unable to move or feel from the chest down." I gave him a smile. "But I'm sure she's happy that Stain can't harm any more people."

A knock came from the door. Iida's surgeon introduced himself and asked for a moment with him. Todoroki took my chair and removed both of us from the room.

"Iida picked his internship to be close to his brother and to potentially capture Stain," Todoroki said after a moment, "did you pick yours to be closer to your sister?"

"U-uh, kind of," I hung my head, fiddling with my fingers. My long dark hair fell into my face. "Catastrophe's quirk activates the same way so I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn how to use my quirk to it's fullest potential."

"Were you angry at Stain?"

I thought back to the fight and before I jumped in. My eyes widened as I realized that I had not been angry. "No, I was scared. But I could still use my quirk decently well at the start of the fight." I ran through the battle in my head. I had stopped being scared once Todoroki had arrived. But I had felt anger boiled in my chest when Stain had injured him. No, I couldn't tell him that.

He crossed his arms, "maybe you're just getting better at controlling it."

I let out a small chuckle. "I wish."

"Natsume!" A loud voice boomed through the hall, "there you are. Do you know how long it took for us to get here only to find out you're not in the room we requested for you!" I froze, shoulders up to my ears.

Todoroki only turned to face my parents and bowed at the waist, "my apologies for keeping her."

"M-m-mom, D-d-dad," I stammered as the two stalked towards us in regular clothes. "We had a little meeting with the police, and I asked to stay and chat." Todoroki stood upright again.

My Mom shoved her hands on to her hips clad in black high waisted pants, frowning down at me, "and why did we hear about this from the hospital and not you?" I froze, stammering incoherently. She let out a sigh, running a hand through her straight black hair, and stood upright. "Anyway, who's your friend? I'm Misaki Kazeya." She bowed her head slightly to Todoroki.

My father did the same, "Ken Kazeya."

Todoroki bowed deeper to the two, "Shoto Todoroki. It's a pleasure to meet you two."

My father froze, "Todoroki? Endeavor's Son?"

I sighed, "Todoroki's the one that I went up against at the sports festival that I walked out on." That clicked something in their minds.

Todoroki nodded, "yes, unfortunately, he is my father."

"Why did you not finish him off at the festival?" My mother roared, her face turning red with anger. Todoroki stood there in his hospital robe as he watched my parents overreact. "His father is the reason Harumi's still in the hospital!"

Todoroki quickly looked down to me, "what? Is that true?"

I sighed deeper, running a hand through my bangs, "kind of."

"Kind of," my father scoffed. "Sure, it was Stain that inflicted the damage onto Harumi, but it was Endeavor that chose to try to pursue the Hero Killer instead of sending someone for an ambulance. He left our daughter there in that ally for another half hour before someone else came across her. Those minutes were wasted and could have been critical in saving her life." Todoroki's jaw tightened. My father's attention turned to me, "how could you even speak with his son?"

"Because Todoroki's not his father. Sure, we can all more than full-heartedly agree that Endeavor is a jerk. But he's his own person – separate from his father." I said, focusing on my words to not stammer despite my entire body wanting to tremble.

Todoroki bowed deeply at the waist, "I am terribly sorry for all of the injustices that my father caused and still causes to your family. I promise, as Natsume's classmate and friend, that I will not allow any harm to come to her."

"My daughter is still injured and required emergency surgery," my mother began to scold.

"No," I interrupted her, "those were all my own fault. I was the one that got too close to Stain and got stabbed. I was the one who tied that tourniquet even though Todoroki wanted to protest it. Those were my own decisions." My mother and father exchanged glances and sighed.

"Well," my father shrugged, "I guess if you actually feel this strongly about something, we should accept it."

My mother felt the need to explain to Todoroki as he slowly righted himself, "Natsume was always such a complacent child. Never cried or screamed for anything. She always did as she was told and never spoke back. I guess our baby girl is finally growing up."

"How about we give you two a few minutes to say bye before we take you home?" My father took my mother's hand and exited the hall.

"Sorry," I frowned, staring at the floor, "my parents are weird."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Todoroki looked down at me, a frown pulling at the corner of his lips.

I puffed out my cheeks and avoided his gaze, "how could I put any blame on you when it was Endeavour's decision." I paused for a moment before looking back up to his face. "We're friends, after all, I hope."

He gave me his typical small closed-mouth smile. "Of course we're friends."

[W&F]

A knock sounded on the front door. I sighed, grabbing my crutch from the floor. I slowly made my way to the entryway and opened the door. "What are you doing here?" I gasped. Todoroki stood on the stoop holding a plastic bag.

"I called earlier to see how you were feeling. Your brother said that you were napping and suggested I come by later," Todoroki said as I hobbled out of the way. "Why are you up, are you here alone?"

I shook my head as Todoroki entered and took his shoes off, "no, Kaosuke's upstairs. My parents went out to visit Harumi." I set the crutch up to go up the single step from the entryway to the rest of the house, my free arm reached out to hold onto the wall.

"You shouldn't be up if you're still unsteady," Todoroki ducked under my arm, so it sat on his shoulders, his left arm on my waist. He used his arm to hold my weight and helped to pull me up into the house.

"T-thanks," I stammered. He kept his grasp on my waist until we were in the living room and he made sure that I was seated nicely on the sofa. My parents, much to Kao's dismay, had moved me into the living room temporarily so I could avoid the stairs. I let my leg rest onto a stool that my mother had fashioned out of a cloud and fell back into the sofa. I rested my crutch back on the floor. "I'm glad that my parents didn't scare you away the other day."

He shook his head, "I understand where they're coming from. But, after what they said about your sister – I'm surprised you even spoke to me in the first place." I began to stammer, becoming flustered again. "Oh – I brought cake."

"Cake?" I looked at him confused, "why would you bring cake over?"

Todoroki looked towards the wall of photos, "when I called earlier, I asked what your favourite thing to eat was. Your brother said that it was a lemon chiffon cake."

I stared, blinking a few times quickly, at Todoroki. I snapped my head around and yelled up the stairs, "Kao! Did you lie to Todoroki just so you could have that cake you've been bugging me about?"

"W-w-w-what, never. I would never do that. That's such a dumb thing to do. Why would someone do that?" Kaosuke stayed upstairs and did not come down. I heard his door slam and loud music start to play. He was still such a child for a twenty-year-old.

I sighed, "I'm sorry, Kao lied to you. He's been asking me to make that cake for him since I started that internship."

"Do you dislike sweets," Todoroki asked.

"No," I said with a smile, "I like sweets and I like lemon chiffon cake – I just feel bad that my brother used you when you were trying to do something so nice. Thank you."

"What is your favourite-" Todoroki was cut off as the front door swung open.

"How's my Hurricane feeling?" My mother cooed as she rushed into the living room, holding a bag of groceries. She had been holding it as a point in her favour that I chose a wind-related name. She froze, lighting up after a moment, "oh, Shoto – welcome! Did you come to pay Natsume a visit?" He nodded.

"Do you have the salmon dear? I can't find it in my bag," my father sighed as he followed in after his wife.

My mom leaned over the sofa and eyed the bag that Todoroki had set on the coffee table. "You brought something for Natsu?" My mother swooned as she ignored my father, "are they macaroons?"

I crossed my arms, feeling even worse for Todoroki, "Kao told Todoroki to bring that lemon chiffon cake he's been going on about all." My mother stood to stare at us for a moment before she dropped her bags and stalked up the stairs yelling his name.

"Now wasn't that thoughtful," my father smiled as he passed us and went into the kitchen. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Todoroki turned to face my father, "unfortunately it's the last day of our internships and I've been requested to go on patrol tonight. I just dropped by to see how Natsume was healing."

"You'll have to eat with us next time we're in town," dad smiled, walking back across the living room to pick up the bag's mom had dropped. "But, how about we dig into that cake before you go – spoil our dinner."

He nodded, "all right." He turned back to me. "How are you healing?"

"Oh! Fine so far, I go back in to get the stitches removed tomorrow and then I should be all good to go." I replied. Todoroki looked at my exposed thigh. Since I had to watch for any ripped stitches, I had opted to wear shorts instead of the baggy sweatpants I normally lounged around the house in. A small gauze bandage covered the stitches but did not hide the large blue and purple bruise that leaked out around it. "It looks worse than it is," I tried to reassure him as my father brought out a stack of five plates, forks, and a knife.

"So, if I slap you on the thigh, it wouldn't hurt," my dad pressed, hand raised.

I glared at him, "fine. Maybe it does hurt as it looks." My father nodded approvingly as he unbagged and unboxed the chiffon cake Todoroki had brought. He whistled, his hair sparking, as he cut the cake. He sat on the floor and passed both of us a slice before cutting two more and digging into his own slice. Todoroki cut off a small piece with the side of his fork before picking it up with the prongs and eating it. I did the same and placed the small piece in my mouth. The lemon flavour burst over my tongue with the soft sponginess of the chiffon. "Wow, that's amazing!"

"You apologize right now!" My mom threw Kaosuke down the stairs and pulled him by the ear into the living room. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Kaosuke had a large black eye from our mom. He was going to have trouble explaining this to Fat Gum.

My brother quickly bowed in front of us, "I'm sorry I lied to you Todoroki. Natsu actually likes rose macaroons." He sat up and looked at mom. "Now can I have some cake?" She waved her hand, a large gust of wind smacking him across the face and dishevelled his hair.


	9. Harumi

I sat at my desk, my hand gently resting in a cupped dome above my freshly removed stitches. Todoroki, Midoriya, and Iida stood around my desk. Iida had gone home the same day I had. He severely injured part of his left hand's brachial plexus, but it was fixable if numbness became an issue, or as he said, 'when he became the hero he wanted to be'. Midoriya and Todoroki had healed up just fine. Todoroki only had the small cut on his cheek and two stab wounds on his arm. Midoriya had a few cuts and scrapes – but the stress fracture was the worst for him. I could almost walk normally now, but the area was still tender. The large purple and blue bruise had just started to fade away. I had Kao check this morning to make sure you could not see any of it under my skirt. I had to wiggle it down an extra centimetre or two from where the skirt usually sat to hide it all.

"You four sure seem different," Ojiro said as he approached us.

"Yeah, it must've been super scary running into that Hero Killer," Sero chided. "At least you were rescued by Endeavor – the number two hero after all."

"You all have really cool scars now!" Ashido poked my shoulder. Present Mic entered with a yowl and immediately started to teach. Everyone rushed to their seats. I tried to keep my attention on the lecture, but my mind kept wandering to the conversation Kaminari was trying to have with Mineta. A video had been going around online featuring Stain's manifesto that had apparently been gaining interest.

During lunch I sat across from Todoroki, eating the leftovers that I had packed for myself. Everyone was happily discussing the skills that they had obtained on their internships while Todoroki and I just sat silently across from the other and ate our lunches. I had pulled up the video that Kaminari had mentioned while the others were getting their lunches from the line. All of us had been included in the video, so the entire internet knew we were there. I could not get those images of the aftermath of that fight out of my mind, or the memory of Harumi being rushed to the hospital – soaked in her own blood.

We cleaned up and headed back to class, the others walking ahead of us. Todoroki stayed back and walked at my speed. I frowned, feeling my thigh tighten with each step.

"How's the leg?" Todoroki looked down at me. It was throbbing.

I forced a smile, "it's fine."

"Something on your mind?" I shook my head. He frowned but dropped the subject, staying at my slightly slower pace back to class. I sat back into my seat as Todoroki took his. Whatever we were doing for heroics class was going to be difficult today.

"Kazeya," Aizawa called from the door, "come with me and bring all of your stuff." The afternoon hero class was supposed to be starting – what was I supposed to be doing? Maybe I was being assigned back to General Studies. Shinzo did want into the course bad enough he probably found a way. I quickly put my notebooks in my bag and hurried, with a slight limp, out of the class.

"Yes?" I stood next to Aizawa as he closed the door.

"Your sister Thunder Struck..." Aizawa's mouth kept moving but nothing reached my ears. I dropped my bag, rushed past him and out of the school, running all the way to the hospital without stopping. We had just put a stop to Stain and his terror. No one else was going to be harmed by him. No one else was supposed to die because of him anymore. Harumi could not be the last victim of his. She was improving – sure it was antagonizingly slow, but she was making progress. I entered the hospital and ignored the elevators, rushing up the stairs to the third floor and down to room fifteen. All the machines had been removed from the room. No tubes or wires were connected to her anymore. A white cloth had been draped over her face. I collapsed in the doorway, my legs refusing to work. I started to pound the ground with my fists. My thigh was burning.

"You can't die," I screamed. My voice cracked. "You never even got to wake up! You never got to finish Stain. You never got to get married. You never got to have a life!" Thunder clapped. I looked up from the tile I had been slamming my fist against and out the windows of Harumi's room. The sky that was once clear and beautiful had changed to grey, fat, clouds that raged with lightning. The wind whipped around furiously, the rain falling at a stark angle. Had I done that? I let out a stifled cry as thunder roared again.

"Kazeya," a voice questioned from behind me. I sat up slowly, my chest quivering from my erratic breathing. "Are you Harumi's sister?" I turned to see a woman with snow-white hair down to her collarbone giving me a small smile. She had crouched down to my level.

"Y-yeah," I nodded, looking back at my dead sister.

She nodded with that same smile, "I'm Rei. I'm in a room just down the hall. I would come and visit Harumi from time to time. Do you mind if I sit with you?" I gave her a nod after a moment and bit my lip, trying to quell my tears. We sat in silence for a while as the storm outside began to die down slowly and my sobs slipped out. She reached an arm around me and pulled me into her chest. She just rubbed my shoulder as I cried.

"I'm Natsume," I said after a long while. The sky had darkened, and my storm had almost completely stopped. The dense and dark storm clouds remained. "Harumi's younger sister." She nodded and kept rubbing my shoulder and brushing my hair with her fingers. We stayed still as a set of footsteps hurried across the floor. My brother ran around the corner, huffing in his hero garb. He was supposed to be helping in Hosu with the aftermath.

"There you are," he wheezed, coming towards us, "let's go home." I shook my head, rubbing my red nose with my sleeve.

Rei squeezed my shoulder, "you've done all you can here. Harumi would want you to take care of yourself first."

"Come on Natsu – Mom and Dad will be at the house in a few hours. We'll come back in the morning." Kaosuke pleaded with me.

"Thanks, Rei." I slowly stood up and limped past my brother. My thigh was radiating heat and pain. I limped to the elevator, Kaosuke following in silence. We exited the hospital at a slow pace and returned home in silence.

"Hey, where's your school bag?" Kao watched me carefully.

I shrugged, "left it at school." I walked up the stairs to my bedroom. I shut the door behind myself and leaned my body against it. I felt heavy and empty. I stared at the photo of Harumi and me on my tenth birthday. Harumi was eighteen, just finished the hero course at Saikara Academy and had gotten word a few days prior that she had a job with Catastrophe. Harumi had an arm wrapped around my waist and lifted me up with ease, a large smile captured mid-laugh. I, on the other hand, was bug-eyed and latched onto her for safety. I have zero control over either of my quirks then. I picked up a book from the shelf beside me and threw it at the photo on my desk. The book grazed the top of the picture and knocked it to the floor, glass shattering. My chest ached. I screamed, putting my fist in front of my mouth to muffle the sound. My teeth pressed hard against my skin. My tear ducts were sore from earlier. My eyes watered and I shut my eyes tight to stop from crying. I reached behind me and locked my door. I was shaking. I doubled over, clutching my stomach as it burned, and screamed.

Kaosuke rushed up the stairs and began to bang on my door, "Natsu – what's wrong? Open up!"

"Go away," I cried, a sob slipping out again. I forced myself over to my desk, my feet crunching in the glass from the picture I had knocked down and swept everything off onto the floor.

"No, what are you doing?" Kao banged harder.

"Go away," I yelled again, my voice cracking. The phone rang, Kao ran down the stairs. I screamed, reaching to my bed for a pillow and threw it across the room. I limped across to the photos of our family I had put on my bedroom wall and tore each one off the wall and threw it. Photos of Harumi and I on her graduation. Photos of the three of us at family gatherings. There was a row above my closet that I could not reach. I screamed again, falling to my knees. A large gale sprang forth from my feet and pushed everything away from me. The plastic blinds on my window snapped. I felt as if I was being ripped in two.

I jumped; someone was knocking on my door. I paused for a moment, heart hammering in my ears. They knocked again – just three slow and calm knocks. "Natsume?" I felt my anger fade instantaneously. It was Todoroki. He tried the knob. "Can you open the door?"

I rose, limped to the door and unlocked it, opening it slowly. Todoroki stood, soaked, on the other side holding my school bag. "T-thanks," I muttered, taking my school bag from him and set it beside my door. I probably looked like shit.

"Can I come in for a bit," he asked, hands in his pockets. I opened the door for him to come inside, hiding behind it. Once he was inside, he sat on my disheveled bed and I closed the door, leaning against it again. We just let ourselves become accustomed to the quiet. Kao was probably wondering why I had stopped. I wondered that myself.

I let myself crumple against the door, holding my head in my hands, "I've never done anything like this before."

"I would do the same thing," Todoroki said, looking at the photo of Harumi and I that was now covered in glass on the floor.

I went to speak, but a wave of overwhelming sadness washed over me. Nothing came out but a cracked sob. Todoroki got off my bed and sat beside me, pulling me into his chest.

He rubbed my back, "let it all out." I shattered; my sobs wracked my entire body as I wailed like a newborn. He rested his chin on top of my head. I clutched onto his shirt and blazer as I cried. He was soaked from the storm that was raging outside because of me – and from my own tears. We stayed like that until I was all dried up. "Kaosuke told me what happened."

I pulled myself away from him, rubbing my face roughly with my sleeve. I got up, picking up everything that I had thrown. Most of the pictures remained intact, the only damage being the glass itself and the occasional corner of the frame. "It's not fair." I put the frames down on my bed. "She shouldn't be his last victim." I picked up the items from my desk that I had thrown off and placed them back on top.

Todoroki rose as well, taking the wastebasket from under my desk and began to clean up all the glass.

"It's my mess, you don't need to help," I said, squatting down across from him and began to pick up the visible pieces of glass.

He shrugged, "I want to help."

I frowned, dropping the pieces in the basket, "thanks Todoroki."

"Always," he replied with a small smile. "So, I assume the two storms today were caused by you?"

I puffed out my cheeks and averted my gaze, then nodded.

"You're not tired?" He reached up with a free hand and felt my forehead. "You are on the colder side." He frowned, standing up and headed for my closet. I watched in confusion as he opened my closet and flipped through my clothes until he found a light blue knitted sweater. He turned back to me, shutting my closet, and wrapped it around me.

"T-thanks," I stammered, hurrying to finish cleaning up the glass. Todoroki turned and left my bedroom, going down the stairs. What was he doing? I stood, putting my arms through the sleeves, and left my room, retrieving the vacuum from the closet to finish the job. I silently vacuumed, a frown playing on my face. I put the vacuum away when I was done and began to work on taking down the broken blinds. It was a bad idea to have plastic blinds around our family anyway. I pulled out my chair, using it to help me get up onto my desk to kneel on it. I reached up and began to undo the blinds from the top of the window. I had to yank it hard to get the last of the attachment loose – everything else had been unscrewed. I pulled hard, my balance faltering. I could not steady myself in time and I felt uneasy as I began to fall backwards. I suddenly felt two strong wide hands grip onto my waist. My back was pressed into their upper body.

"Whoa, are you okay?" I looked up to see Todoroki staring down at me in concern.

I nodded, "uh, yeah – I'm fine. Just removing this." He slowly let me right myself again. I slipped off my desk and put the fixture on top of my desk, I would deal with that in the morning.

Todoroki went to my bookcase by the door and picked up a mug, "I made you some tea."

My face lit up, "Todoroki! That's so thoughtful." I gave him a beaming smile as he set the mug in my hands.

"Kaosuke was ordering dinner in so I took a guess at your tea selection. I hope it's okay."

I lifted the mug to my face. It smelled of spices and cinnamon, "it's my favourite. Thank you." I took a sip, feeling the hot liquid spreading through me. Todoroki gave me a small smile. He turned to the stack of photos on my bed and began to put them back on the walls from where I had knocked them down. He held up a picture and asked which hook I wanted it on before hanging it up. I smiled, watching him, and drank my chai.

"Are you warming up?" He approached me after hanging up the last frame and put his hand on my forehead. He frowned, reaching behind and wrapped a blanket around me.

"I'll be fine," I tried to reassure him.

He sat beside me on my bed, staring at my closed closet. "Have you caused two hurricanes' in one day before?"

Right. I had done that inadvertently. I shook my head. He reached for the back of my neck with his left hand. A chill ran down my spin and I arched my back. He set some heat out from his hand, my body warming down towards my chest. "Thanks. Todoroki."

"You can call me Shoto if you want." He spoke after a moment.

"O-okay," I stammered, taking a sip of my chai to hide my sudden awkward fluster.

* * *

I stood in the corner watching our family and Harumi's friends interacting at the reception. We had brought our family albums, a group of our elders had formed in the corner and were flipping through them conversing drunkenly. I felt my phone vibrating in the hidden pocket of my black kimono. I pulled out my phone without looking at who was calling as I walked out of the crowded room and onto the balcony, "hello?"

It was Todoroki's voice on the other end, "are you okay?"

I sighed, looking back at the once mournful party that was happily chattering away as they shared bottle after bottle of sake. "Eventually."

"I have notes for you. Do you want to meet up and do something?"

"Thanks, Shoto – but I'm in Asahikawa. We just put Harumi to rest."

He was silent for a moment. I had to check to make sure we were still connected. "When do you come back?"

"Thursday. Kaosuke and I are going to stay and visit some old friends and pay Harumi respect again before we leave."

"See you at the practical exam then?" Right, finals were happening this week. I need to contact Aizawa later and ask for a late sitting.

"Hey, thanks for calling. It means a lot." The end of lunch bell rang.

"Always." The line went dead. I smiled, putting my phone into the inner lining pocket of my kimono.

Catastrophe joined me on the balcony, "how're you feeling?" He matched the other men in black suits and ties with white shirts under them. I absentmindedly twirled a piece of my dark hair around a finger.

I was beginning to hate that question, "fine." He approached me and placed a black box into my hands.

"Harumi ordered a new set from our support company the day before the accident. I figured that you may want them instead." He rubbed the back of his head. "Even if you don't use them, it'll be a nice memento of her."

I frowned, opening the box. My heart fell and my stomach turned. I reached in and wrapped my hand around one of the gently curved handles. It was made of pure silver to allow for maximum conductivity. I smiled, placing the handle back into the box. "Thank you."

He nodded, crossing his arms over his chest. "I look forward to having Harumi live on through your future heroics. She'll be honoured no matter what path of a hero you follow."

* * *

"Hurry up," Kaosuke yelled at me from the top of the staircase to the cemetery. Our parents hushed him, pulling him along in the direction of our family's grave by the ear. This entire experience was foreign. All our grandparents and friends were alive, so we had not visited a graveyard before. All of us were dressed in casual clothes – something my father hated to be in. I trudged along up the stairs, a bouquet of lilacs in my hand for her. I wanted to find her favourite orchid but none of the shops I checked had one in stock. I had not been smart enough to bring a plant or a stem with me either.

"Who did this?" I stopped behind my parents at a grave that had been covered in flowers, cards, and cranes. I looked past them to the nameplate – it read Harumi Kazeya. Who had sent all of these? There was a single light green rose with a card from Midoriya.

"No way," I breathed slowly as I crouched down in front of my family to read all the cards. Every single one of my classmates – even Bakugo had written and sent a flower to Harumi. "Th-they're from my classmates." All of them were addressed to Harumi – not to ThunderStruck. I wonder if they knew who she was? The media only reported it as Thunder Struck's death, not using her real name.

"What?" My mother gasped, "your classmates are so sweet!"

"How did they even figure out where we were?" Kaosuke mused as he scanned the cranes and cards.

I was stunned, "Todoroki called me the other day – he's the only one who knew where we were." But even if he knew what city we were in, how did he manage to find the right graveyard? I spotted a tolumnia orchid that rested at the base of her marker. I read the name on the card – it was from Shoto. How did he remember all of this? How did he even think of this?

* * *

I left my bag with Kaosuke and Catastrophe – both of which dawned their civilian garb - before wandering off down the platform a little. I unlocked my phone and selected Shoto's number – it was fifteen minutes from the start of the last class so he might answer. It took two rings for him to pick up, "how's Asahikawa?"

I froze up, the words I wanted to say slipping from my mouth. "It's been good, Kao and I are getting on the bullet train now to come back." I gave him an awkward laugh before the words I wanted to speak returned. "I just wanted to thank you and everyone for doing what you did. It meant a lot to all of us."

"We missed you, it didn't feel right that we couldn't be there to support you," Shoto spoke softly. I felt a chill travel up my spine.

"How did your finals go so far?" I spoke after a moment.

"I know I passed our usual subjects – but we have a practical examination today. When are you writing yours?"

"Now boarding T032 to Tokyo. Now boarding T032 to Tokyo," a male announcer bellowed over the loudspeaker.

"I'm sorry, we're boarding. I'll see you later?" I rushed back towards the two who were already standing and waiting for me. Catastrophe had easily lifted my bag with his own.

"Definitely," Shoto replied before we disconnected. I met up to the two and followed them onto the train, finding our spots in a small four-seat compartment. Catastrophe put our bags over his head before taking the left side. He was muscular enough he needed two seats.

"Was that your boyfriend," Catastrophe asked as he pulled out a deck of cards. I froze and looked at him in shock while my brother gave the affirmative. I plopped myself down in the seat beside him, making sure to smack him on the shoulder.

"He's the only one you've ever invited over if he's not your boyfriend he should be." Kaosuke shrugged as we watch Catastrophe shuffle the cards in his large hands before dealing them out to us.

"We're just friends," I glared at the two, getting our three tickets together to be scanned by the attendant throughout the fourteen-hour trip.

"That's what you think," Kaosuke rolled his eyes, "he brought over a full-sized fancy cake for you because you got stabbed. If he doesn't like you then I don't know what you two are."

I watched as Catastrophe dealt the cards. I picked up my own hand and put the cards in numerical order. "Do you want me to use you as target practice for those whips?"

He let air escape forcefully through his closed lips, "as if you could hurt me with those."

"Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe."

"Bring it!"

"You two can fight when your home – not on a train with a bunch of civilians." Catastrophe jumped in, throwing down the seven of clubs.

"We wouldn't need to even take the train if someone trained hard enough." Kaosuke stuck his tongue out at me.

"Sorry, my cloud can only hold one person for the moment. Why don't you learn how to make one?" I shot back.

"You know I didn't get that half of mom's quirk." Kaosuke scoffed and threw down a seven of diamonds.

Catastrophe began to laugh, "you can't tell you're related at all!"

I pouted to Kaosuke, "we're having a summer training for those that pass our final. Guess you'll be 'fending for yourself' all summer." I slammed a six of diamonds down.

His face fell, "no. You can't go. Fail!" I stuck my tongue out at him this time. Appealing to his stomach was the best way to win any argument when we were kids – and it still worked. We played sevens, go fish, and old maid for three hours until lunch. We took about an hour to eat our bentos that we purchased from the corner store near the station. After Kaosuke napped. The catastrophe had his work computer out and was attending to his agency while I had my notes open. The tests were supposed to be spread over three days. Aizawa had said on the phone with my parents that he didn't want to waste three days at the training camp so he would administer all three exams on Friday and then the practical exam on the last day of school.

"Are you feeling confident about your exams?" Catastrophe did not look away from his work.

I shrugged, "the written tests are going to be easy. It's the practical I'm worried about." All the general studies kids had to have impeccable grades to get in since we were not being graded on the hero entrance exam. If I had gone for the recommended entrance exam, I would have aced the written exam and fell flat on the practical. But, now with all this extra training and knowing the switch of my quirk – maybe I could pass the practical.

Catastrophe kept typing away, "just remember what I taught you and you'll be able to ace it." I nodded, hanging my head. "It did work against Stain though, didn't it."

"Well, I didn't use much of my wind in the fight. My lightning is a lot more reliable but not nearly as volatile as you saw. I was scared more than anything trying to stand up to Stain and save Iida."

"You did use your wind though – you pulled that smoke cloud over all of downtown Hosu."

"What?"

"You did do that, didn't you?"

"No, I did, but I pulled it down over Hosu? Not just that alley?"

"Yeah Natsu, you did that."

I let myself flop back against the seat, "no way." I felt that familiar ache of my muscles trying to pull that cloud down. I had attributed the extra weight to the cloud being dense with smoke – not the size of the cloud.

"Something had to have made you angry if you didn't mean to do that level of control." Catastrophe stopped typing and looked up at me. Stain throwing two of his knives at Shoto and how badly his arm was bleeding flashed through my head.

I gulped, "Stain almost got my friend."

"That would do it. Just don't always shove your friends into danger."

I rolled my eyes and got up from my seat, opening the compartment and left to take a walk through the train car. I looked at the screen situated in the center of the car, it was a map that showed the distance to our next destination and our destination. I frowned. We still have eight hours to go on this train.

* * *

"You guys are the worst," I groaned, hauling my bag off the train in front of the two. It had been a torturous fourteen-hour train ride. Kaosuke had gotten Catastrophe on the topic of Todoroki when he had woken up from his nap and the two would not stop asking why we were not together. We were just friends after all. Right?

"Hey, there he is," Kaosuke pointed out the two-toned haired boy to the burly hero behind him. The two began to murmur behind me.

"Oh – that's the kid that went up against Stain with you." Catastrophe lit up. "Isn't he Endeavor's boy though?"

"Yeah," Kao poked Catastrophe in the ribs, "she went up against him in the Sports Festival and forfeited against him too."

I sighed, jumping off the last step, "I'll see you at home. I'm going to catch up with a _friend_." I tossed my bag over a shoulder and rushed down the platform to where Shoto stood. He smiled as he watched me run. He raised a hand and gave a small wave to the two heroes behind me. "Why are you here so late?"

"I said I would see you later, didn't I?" Shoto took my bag from me and put it over his right shoulder. I watched over my shoulder as Catastrophe and Kaosuke gave us a wave before leaving out the west entrance.

"It's late – you really didn't have too," I started to stammer as we walked out of the east entrance.

"I wanted to," he shrugged as we exited onto the busy Musutafu street. "Are you hungry?"

I glared ahead of me. "Y-yeah."

"Let's get some dinner then, what are you in the mood for?" Shoto smiled down at me.

My stomach growled, "I guess anything." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. He reached out and took my free left hand, lacing his fingers with mine and started to lead the way through the city streets. What was he doing? I had been gone for a little more than a week – and he was acting differently around me. Or had I never noticed?

We entered side street after side street until we came to a Ramen Stand built beside an old Block Buster, "ramen alright?" My stomach growled again, and I let go of Shoto's hand; I covered my face with my hands.

"Sorry, Kao ate his dinner and mine on the train." I frowned. Shoto led me up to the small shop, sitting down on one of the five lone stools. I sat beside him; ankles crossed. The elderly gentleman smiled and began to converse with Shoto – speaking far to fast to keep up with and in a thick island accent. I could only watch as he nodded or shook his head and the occasional words that I could make out. The man quickly set to work in front of us, his hands multiplying and working on two hot bowls of ramen. It was barely a minute before we set the two bowls in front of us. A large piece of pork cutlet was adorned by seaweed, naruto, and bamboo shoots with a soft-boiled egg. "How did you find this place?"

Shoto shrugged as he picked up the large spoon, "I used to wander around town after school to avoid going home. I've found quite a few hidden gems in middle school." I felt a large smile creep onto my face. We both dug in, eating in silence until every drop was gone. It was amazing. I reached into the pocket of my pants for my wallet. Shoto stalled my hand and quickly gave the man a bill. "Don't worry about it."

"But Shoto," I gasped as he stood up and picked up my bag. I got out of my seat, bowing to the shop owner, and followed him, "I can't let you do that."

He gave me a smirk as we started in the direction of my home, "of course you can."

I pouted, pursing my lips as I watched our feet move against the cement. "I owe you on the next one then."

"There's going to be a next time?" I looked up to meet his gaze as he stared down at me.

"I'm not letting you treat me without treating you," I smiled, punching the air. He let out a chuckle and began to walk faster.


	10. Practical Exam

I swore under my breath, stripping off my pyjamas and rushed around my bedroom, slipping on some clean black underwear. I had slept through my alarm. I had stayed up far too late doing some last-minute cramming, Shoto would be here any minute now. I grabbed my hair tie and twisted my hair up into a bun, opening my closet with my foot. I pulled out my uniform after my hair was in place and slipped on the white button-up shirt. I stepped into my skirt and began to button it shut on my hips when my door opened. Shoto and I both froze, our eyes locking for a long moment. His face stayed stoic as he slowly closed the door again and his steps went down the stairs.

I bit my lip to keep from screaming in exasperation. Shoto had just seen me in a skirt with my shirt unbuttoned and my plain Jane black bra. Kao probably told him to come on up and go in. Shoto wasn't going to expect to see that. I hurriedly set my skirt in place, tucked my shirt in, buttoned it, and threw on my blazer. I slipped on my white ankle socks and grabbed my school bag, giving it a quick once over to ensure all my notes were in my bag.

I hurried down the stairs and through the living room into the kitchen, taking one of the muffins I had removed from the freezer last night. Kao had already eaten half of the package – but he wasn't here, "didn't Kao let you in?"

I walked over to Shoto who was standing awkwardly at the door. "He left when I was waiting at your gate. He said you were asleep and asked if I could wake you up."

I sighed, slipping on my black vans, "sorry about that. I stayed up too late studying and slept through my alarm."

"Feel ready for your test?" Shoto slipped his shoes back on and held the door open for me to pass through. I exited and locked the door behind him.

I nodded, "Aizawa's going to have me write the tests today while you're all doing the practical exam. Those will be no problem. He's going to have me do the practical tomorrow, so I'll at least have an extra day to train for that." I began to pick at my muffin as we walked. I offered some to Shoto who declined. "Are you ready for your practical?"

He nodded, "Ashido spoke with someone in class B and found out that we're fighting against robots. It should be pretty easy." If it was just robots, I could zap them with a snap and then I could pass – but so could Kaminari, there had to be a catch. They would not make it that easy for two people with similar quirks to pass.

I hung my head, "I'll probably still struggle with that."

Shoto shifted beside me, "do you want to come over and train after school?"

"What about your Dad? He doesn't seem to be the biggest fan of my family."

"He's gone all week for work. There won't be an interruption." Shoto reassured me as he took out his phone and started to type away.

"Uh, sure," I smiled as my phone chimed. I took it out of my pocket, his address lit up the screen, "hey – we don't live too far away. Maybe five blocks tops." Idiot. He's been over to your house plenty of times before and you're literally walking to school together right now, of course, he knows how close you live.

He smiled down at me for a moment before looking ahead of us to the train station, "we haven't had a chance to see how our quirks could work together either."

I was about to question what he was talking about – but then I remembered our conversation after the sports festival after my forfeit. "Right. We haven't had much of a chance for the two of us to work together."

Todoroki stepped on the train behind me. I held on to one of the poles while he held the loop on the horizontal bar. "If we caused that much damage going against each other – I wonder what mess we would make working together." We chatted eagerly, trying to imagine what combo acts we could make with our four elements, on the train until we entered U.A. We walked down the hall to our class, the hall mostly empty of students. Most were probably sitting in their class trying to cram last second. The teacher for 1-B stood outside of his class' door, arms crossed over his large chest.

"You're coming with me," Vlad pointed a thick finger at me. I stiffened, pulling on the strap of my bag.

"O-okay," I stammered rushing towards him, I turned and gave Shoto a wave, "see you after school?" He nodded, watching me turn back around. I followed Vlad into his classroom.

"What is the reject of class A doing here?" The blonde quirk copier pointed at me, slamming a hand onto his desk as he stood. I frowned, my shoulders stiffened.

The class representative expanded her fist and hit him over the head, "be nice Monoma!" Tetsutetsu stared at me, gulping hard.

Vlad pointed to an extra desk that had been added at the back of the room. I quickly set myself down in the chair and placed my bag on the ground beside me. "Kazeya had a family situation that had to be attended to. She'll be writing the tests with you today while class A does the practical exam you've already done."

"Wait," a boy with white hair and large teeth spoke, "didn't someone die?" The classmates turned their heads to stare at me, anticipating my answer.

I took a pencil and eraser out of my bag, "yeah." The classmates looked at one another in silence.

"Put everything away – the test begins now," Vlad roared, slapping the stack of papers against his podium. He handed out a small stack to each row before dropping off a folder with my name on it on my temporary desk. I opened the folder to find three questions per subject. Aizawa had trimmed the exam so I could take three days of exams in one. I bit my lip – this meant that each question was weighted far more than the others. This was going to be tough.

"How was it?" Shoto stood outside the door of class B.

"I feel like a zombie," I sighed, hauling my bag over my shoulder as I left the class last. "Aizawa didn't waste any stops on that exam. How was your practical exam?"

"Natsume," Midoriya yelled in surprise from the door of our class, "welcome back!"

"Wait – Kazeya's here?" Sero spoke from behind him.

"Uh, hi," I stammered, giving my classmates who were crowding the door a small wave.

Uraraka and Ashido pushed past everyone and pulled me into a tight hug, "we're so sorry to hear about what happened to your sister!" I looked past the group to see Iida at the back of the group, staring solemnly at the ground.

"It's alright," I said as the two let themselves disconnect from me, "she h-had been sick for a long time and we were expecting it to happen. I'm j-just glad she's not in any more pain." I gave them a large, forced, smile.

"Hey – Kazeya, a bunch of us planned on going swimming next week, do you want to join us?" Yaoyorozu gave me a smile, hands on her hips.

"S-sure," I said, looking back to Shoto who was patiently waiting. "I-I have plans today, but I'll see you all in class tomorrow." Most of my classmates waved as Shoto and I left. We walked in silence to our area of town when I stopped, realization hit me.

"Natsume?" Shoto questioned as he stopped and looked at me.

"Wait, I don't have anything to train in," I became flustered, asking to walk by my place.

Shoto shrugged as if it was nothing, "you can borrow something of mine."

"I can't, that'd be imposing too much," I started to protest and waved my hands in front of my chest.

"It's alright, really," Shoto said, giving me a small smile. I hung my head in defeat as we neared his home. I lived in the nice homes a few blocks away, but this area of the urban city was covered in large and extravagant homes. "Well, this is it."

I stood in front of a large and traditional wooden home with rice paper doors. "It's amazing," I covered my mouth quickly with my free hand. That slipped out – how embarrassing.

Shoto looked at me for a moment before stepping forward through his large gates. I hurried after him. "Sorry in advance for my sister." He opened the door and we stepped inside, taking off our shoes in the entryway.

I gave him a look as I stood upright again, "you've met Kaosuke – right? I'm sorry about that."

Feet began to pad along the hall towards us, "Shoto, your home! How was your exam?" A taller woman with white hair speckled with red stopped at the corner, eyes running over me a few times before turning to Shoto. "You brought a friend home? This is fantastic! Are you his girlfriend? Can I get you two any snacks?"

Shoto sighed as he stepped into his home, "Fuyumi – this is Natsume Kazeya, she's also in the hero course. Her practical exam is tomorrow so she came to spar."

Fuyumi wrinkled her noise, glasses falling down slightly, "wait, Kazeya? As in the Asahikawa Kazeya hero family?" Were they really calling us that? I hesitantly nodded. She pumped her fists into the air. "That's so cool! But, why is your exam on a different day?"

She hadn't heard. I bowed my head, "it's nice to meet you. I, unfortunately, had a family matter that needed to be attended to and just came back to Tokyo last night." She perked up, slyly turning her head to face Shoto, an evil grin on her face. She gave her younger brother a pat on the back before whispering something in his ear and leaving. He sighed, turning around and going deeper into his home. I hurried after him. We stopped outside of a door, Shoto sliding it open and stepping inside. He dropped his bag at the desk.

"You've met Fuyumi now. She's full of energy," Shoto frowned, undoing his tie. He went to his dresser and pulled out a pair of shorts and a black v neck, handing them to me. "Here, you can change in here if you'd like and I'll use the bathroom down the hall." He took out a set for himself.

"O-okay," I stammered as he left the room, closing the door behind him. I could feel my face grow hotter. I slipped on his shorts over my legs, taking my skirt off once it was all the way on, the shorts rested well below my knee. I quickly unbuttoned my uniform shirt and shrugged that off with my blazer before pulling his plain shirt on. I took the time to fold my uniform and placed them on top of my school bag which sat beside his on the desk. I jumped as he knocked on the door, "I'm good." He re-entered with his uniform in his hands, also folded. His shorts rested above his knee and his white tank top fit snug. He looked at me for a moment before moving to his closet and hung his uniform up.

"Ready?" I nodded, following Shoto out of his bedroom and through his home to another set of sliding wooden doors. He opened them and stepped inside, closing them behind me. His family's training room was massive. The sides of the room were decorated with weights and cardio machines but left a large area for sparing. I let a wow slip through my lips. "What do you want to work on first?"

I stiffened, "uh, whatever you want to do!" I was quick and awkwardly grabbed the back of my neck. So smooth.

"Well," Shoto said before falling silent to think. "How about we work on your lightning. Are you able to control the path or only the destination?"

I froze, dropping the hand on my neck. "I can only control the destination."

"Let's try that then." Shoto nodded.

He made a large block appear in the centre of the training room. I lifted my hands to snap my fingers, but I could not bring myself to snap. I let my arms drop and hung my head, "I can't. I'm sorry."

Shoto crossed the room to me, his bare feet standing in front of my own, "nervous?"

I sighed, looking up at him. He was close. "I don't want to chance destroying your home."

He let out a chuckle while I stared at him in disbelief, "don't worry about that. Between my father and I, this place can handle a beating. This is my least liked room in the whole house too." I relaxed a little. The door flew open and his sister Fuyumi stood in the door huffing, holding out her phone to us.

"I knew I recognized you!" She cried with a large smile on her face. I squinted at the screen from across the room. My stomach dropped. It was a recording of our fight at the sports festival.

"Oh," Shoto was unfazed by it. "That's the fight Natsume should have won."

"W-w-what," I began to stammer, shoulders coming up to my ears trying to make myself smaller and disappear from this conversation.

Fuyumi laughed, staring at the fight on her phone, "it was such an awesome fight! You really had Shoto trying. You're amazing with close and ranged combat. Shoto can learn a thing or two from you." My face began to heat up from her praise. I quickly covered my face with my hands to hide my embarrassment.

"Fuyumi, you're embarrassing her," Shoto said plainly. "We have training to do before tomorrow."

She huffed, "fine, fine, fine. Have fun with your training. I'll have a snack in the living room when you're done." The door closed.

"She's gone," Shoto said after a moment. "You get embarrassed anytime someone says anything positive about your quirk."

"Yeah," I said sheepishly. "I guess I'm still used to being the runt of my family. I'm not used to anyone commenting on my quirk – I would pretend that I was quirkless as a kid because of how embarrassed I was over how weak it was."

Shoto stepped away from me and took a fighting stance. I peeked through my fingers at him. What was he doing? "You're good at close combat. Let's start with that."

"Uhm, okay," I said, biting my lip as I took my own stance. Shoto threw a punch at my head with his right hand. I shifted to the side, grabbed his wrist and pulled him along using his own power and let go when I was behind him. He swiftly turned around and tried to kick me. I grabbed a hold of his heel, took a step closer to him and hooked my heel on his supporting leg. I pulled, his leg collapsing as he fell onto the ground. I was not expecting him to fall so harshly and came down with him, landing on top of him with my arms on either side of his head. "Sorry!" I tried to get up, but our legs were tangled.

"That was all instinct, wasn't it," Shoto asked as he stared up at me.

"I guess," I said, slowly untangling myself from him and sat beside him. Shoto sat up and crossed his legs.

"Have you tried concentrating your quirks on a smaller scale to be used in close combat?"

I lifted my hands into fists, trying to imagine the glacial fists that Kao would use. I placed my knuckles together and breathed out, willing the breeze to swirl around my fists. The small gust picked up speed as it rotated faster and faster around my fists. I pulled my hands apart and stared at my hands in awe, "I can't believe that worked."

Shoto motioned to the iceberg with his head, "give it a try." I punched the iceberg; my wind made a tiny dent and my knuckles smashed against the solid surface. The wind around my fists disappeared. I cringed, letting my air out shakily. I slowly took my hand back and looked at my bloodied and bruised skin. I bit my lip while I tried to slowly open my hand. Shoto rushed over to me and took my hand gently in his.

I let out a pained, self-deprecating laugh, "sorry, my quirk's really weak." Shoto hurriedly got the first aid kit from the front of the room. He slowly moved me to the ground and sat close to my side, cradling my hand as he took a disinfectant wipe to the edge of my cuts. I watched as he expertly and gingerly cleaned up and wrapped my hand.

"We've both seen how much damage you can do. I should have made sure you were angry before you punched the ice." Shoto frowned, still holding my bandaged hand. He had easily wrapped each finger over the second knuckle and down to my wrist.

I shook my head, "no, I got too excited that something new happened. Maybe next time I'll be able to do something more with them." I gave him a smile and pushed my bangs out of my face with my non-throbbing hand. Shoto turned his head away and looked at the door to the training room.

"Let's get some ice on that hand," Shoto spoke after a moment and stood, helping me to my feet. He melted the large ice black until it was the size of a brick and led me out of the room and down the hall back to his room. "Feel free to sit on the bed." I nodded and sat on the edge as gently as I could. He left for a moment and returned with a cloth, wrapping the ice in it. He picked up my hand in his again and gently iced it.

We sat in silence. I looked around his room, rubbing the back of my head nervously. There was not much to his room. It was plain and with a strong traditional design like the rest of his home. He had no photos at all. "Hey, Shoto – want to take a picture together?"

"Sure," he shrugged. I took out my phone, turned on the camera and extended my arm out. I smiled wide to the lens and snapped a few photos in succession. I put my phone away without looking at them. "Are you looking forward to the training camp?"

I hung my head, "if I even get the chance to go. If I fail, I won't be allowed to go – and Kao'll have a thing or two to say if I do end up passing."

"He could always come and help out again, it is a training camp after all."

"Kao would let it slip that we were siblings in a heartbeat."

"Would that be so bad?"

"I'll tell everyone eventually." I stared down at my feet, he was still holding the ice to my hand.

"You're not the runt of your family," Shoto spoke, eyes on my bandaged hand. I gave him a look with raised eyebrows and motioned down to my hand. "So? You just need more practice - and to get angry more often." My phone began to vibrate on top of his desk. Shoto was up and back with my phone in a second. I slipped my finger across the lock pattern and answered Kao's call.

"Where are you? Why isn't there any food here!" Kao roared in desperation on the other end, "your brother's a starving pro-hero and you've left him to slowly die."

"Give me fifteen minutes, I'm out with a friend." I forced out through gritted teeth.

He gasped, "is it Shoto? Tell him hi from his favourite big brother."

"You're not his brother, nor his favourite."

"Not yet." He hung up.

I looked at my phone, "rude. Sorry – Kao's being Kao and I need to head back." Shoto gave me a small smile and left me with the ice while he gathered my things. "Oh – I have to change, or I can return them to you after I wash them."

Shoto shook his head, "they fit you well, feel free to keep them for next time." Next time? I tried to take my bag and clothes from Shoto, but he shook his head and opened the door his room for me. I held the ice and my injured hand to my chest as I exited his bedroom. We walked to the entrance of his home.

"Leaving already," Fuyumi's voice called from the hall as she padded towards us. She ran around the corner pouting. Her eyes went wide when she stared at my iced hand, "Shoto! What did you do?"

"I just hit the wrong thing," I smiled and tilted my head before bowing at the waist to thank Shoto and his sister, "thank you for having me. I'm sorry it was not as fruitful as we had hoped."

Fuyumi ruffled my hair while I was bowed at the waist, "you're so cute and so well mannered! Shoto, you must bring Na-chan over again."

"Na-chan?" Shoto raised his brow at his sister.

She looked at him as if it was the most obvious nickname, "of course. I can't call her Natsu – especially when Natsuo's around. That would just be far too confusing!"

"Natsuo's my older brother," Shoto explained as he got his shoes on as well, "he's away at university now. I'll be back in time for dinner."

I became flustered again, "I can walk myself home, it's alright." Shoto shook his head and led me out of his home while Fuyumi shouted farewells. I hung my head as we walked the few blocks to my home. "Thanks for trying Shoto."

He shrugged. "We figured out something to work on."

"We never even got to try any combinations either." I puffed out my cheek as I ran a finger over my bandaged knuckles.

* * *

"Unfortunately, there are a few of you who did not pass your final exams." Aizawa stood at the front of the class, "everyone is still going!" I failed. I must have failed.

"Seriously?" Mina shouted with tears in her eyes.

"Yes," Aizawa nodded, "no one bombed the written exam. Five failed the practical, two teams and Sero. The training camp will focus on building your strength. Those that failed the practical will need it the most. We were never going to separate you, that was just a logical deception that we used." Mina, Sero, Kaminari, Kirishima, Sato all hung their heads while Aizawa smiled with a crazy demeanour.

Iida shoot up from his desk, "this is the second time you've lied to us, aren't you afraid we'll lose faith in you?"

"That's a good point. I'll consider it. But I wasn't lying to you about everything. Failure is a failure, we've prepared extra lessons for those that failed. Frankly, they'll be far tougher than what you would have faced in summer school."

The door slammed open, "I am here!"

"Good timing. Kazeya, you'll be coming with me for your practical exam," Aizawa motioned for me to follow as him as he headed for the door. All Might moved to stand at the podium, chest puffed out and smile wide. I quickly moved to gather my case.

"Wait, teacher! Doesn't Natsume get a partner like we did," Ashido asked throwing her hand into the air. "Can I retake the test with her!" The others that failed pipped up as well.

"There are no retakes. Kazeya will be taking her test alone." Aizawa activated his quirk and the five rowdy students sat back down in their seats. He motioned for me to follow again with a flick of his wrist. I clutched my case to my stomach and left the class with him. "For their practical, they worked in teams of two to either escape or capture the villain which was played by one of the teachers. You'll be doing the same but alone. Change into your costume and meet me where you had your entrance exam for the hero course. Oh wait – you skipped that test because you second-guessed yourself. Battle City D." I stopped at the change room and watched Aizawa walk away. How cutthroat.

* * *

"Wait," I gawked, pointing a gloved hand between Aizawa and Kaosuke, "you're pitting me against my brother?"

Aizawa nodded, "you're still unpredictable with controlling your quirks. We don't need you creating another hurricane over Tokyo. You either have to capture Hailstorm or escape, all within the time limit." My brother looked down at me before turning on his heel and entered the arena.

I felt any hope of passing fade, "I'm going to fail and be stuck looking after his sorry ass all summer."

"Your thirty minutes start now." Aizawa frowned as he clicked a button on his phone. I let my shoulders drop as I slowly entered the battle zone. My only hope was to escape. Kao was good at using the wind to tell where someone was. If I tried to use my transport cloud he would know where I was and where I was headed in a second. I kept walking, the metal plate on the bottom of my boots clicking on the pavement. I needed to try and make myself angry. Man, the list of things that annoyed me about Kao was endless. I sighed. Those annoyed me, but I felt no anger at him for all of those.

The air shifted; a large gust rushed for me. I crouched down as low as I could get to the ground. He probably wanted to cycle me back to the beginning of the zone – or locate me. I shot up, moving my hands in backhand motions as I cleared the gust out of my way. The battle area was not that big – it was maybe shy of a kilometre sprint.

"There you are!" I turned my head to see Kao jumping off a building, a punch aimed right for me. It was the same move as last time. I tightened up my body, envisioning Stain attacking Shoto and the others. I stopped, hit the ground and sprang my legs into his chest before his fist could make an impact. Something cracked in his chest. He went flying a few meters, coughing as he stood. He was playing hard. I quickly got back onto my feet and ran, the metal plates in my shoes clacking like tap shoes. "You're not running away!"

I felt the air trying to suck and pull me back towards Kao. My limbs fought to cut through the air. If I can't run, then maybe I would be stuck fighting and losing. Damn it, that was not the option that I wanted. I let myself spin back to face Kao who was rushing towards me and let the wind tunnel pull me towards Kao. I balled my hand into a fist and landed a blow to his stomach. My heart sprang into my throat. Kao grabbed onto my wrist and threw me into the ground. I felt something crack in my back. I grabbed onto Kao's leg and took him to the ground as well. I filled up my lungs as far as I could and blew out at Kao, letting his leg go. The wind stream that I created picked Kao up and rushed him away. I quickly stood back up, my back radiating in pain, and rushed towards the exit.

"Come on Natsu, you want to be a hero, show me you can handle it," Kao yelled from behind me.

I was already huffing and could feel bruises forming on my back. I reached down and pulled out the handles I had stashed in my shorts. I needed to remember how Harumi activated them – they were literal hunks of metal after all. I spun them in my fingers, grabbed onto them in a fist and snapped them down towards the ground. A long whip of white lightning shot out, coiling at my feet. No way, it worked for me.

"Where did you get those?" Kaosuke stood, stunned. Ice and air swirled around his fist. He was planning on using his glacial fists? He was pulling out all his moves. But then again, so was I. My own were just mediocre.

"Catastrophe," I snapped the whip down, it cracked the road and left a large scorch mark. I tried to remember seeing Harumi practising with the first version of her whips. I spun on my heel and lashed out at Kao, one of the whips flew out and coiled around his arm. I pulled the whip downward and he was pulled towards me. I spun again and the other whip lashed out and grabbed onto his opposing leg. I snapped down again, pulling him closer to me. I let the first whip uncoil and snapped again, wrapping around his torso. Kao was pulling harshly on the whips, teeth gritted as the lightning wracked his body. He grabbed onto the whip and started to pull it towards him. I stumbled forward, losing my balance to his strength. He let go of the whip and punched me in the face. I was thrown off my feet and crashed through a window into a store. I could feel smaller cuts on my face from his glacial fist.

Shit, I had lost one of the whips. I pulled myself up, leaving back through the window. I snapped the whip against the cement, leaving another scorch mark. I grabbed onto Kao's wrists with my whip and began to spin, blowing air out around me. I pulled him closer to me as we were swept up into the tornado. I let him go in the current. Kao struggled against the flow. I crouched down and blew out at my feet, forcing myself up and out of the eye of the tornado. I could see the exit. Almost there.

My brain froze the moment a large chunk of hail began to fall from the sky. Damnit, Kao. I instinctively pushed against the air harshly with my palms to steer around the falling bricks of ice as I quickly descended to the ground. Just a few more seconds and I would be out of the exit.

"Not quick enough!" Kao roared as I watch him destroy my tornado. Shit. He spun, making his own current and shot straight for me. I let out a harsh breath and pushed myself up and above his current. I threw my whip out and caught him, pulling him out of his torrent. I felt something hard and cold hit my back. I let go of the whip and hurtled back to Earth. I watch as Kao was caught in my whip and was hit hard by one of his own large slabs of hail. I hit a small café and it crumbled to pieces. I groaned that hurt. I looked across to the pile of rubble that Kaosuke had landed in, he wasn't moving. I forced myself up from the pile of pavement I landed in. I was wobbly on my feet. I took a few steps towards the exit, then everything went black.

I was covered in warm heated blankets. It felt like I was covered in a warm hug, it was wonderful. My back radiated pain from between my shoulder blades and down to my lower back.

"Why did you not stop those two?"

"Kazeya needed to be pushed against someone who she won't give up against."

"And you put her against her brother? Shota, there must be a better option!"

"You're too loud," my brother and I groaned at the same time. We paused for a moment before we both laughed.

"Well, as much as I don't want her passing – Natsu did kick the shit out of me first, she better pass." I heard my brother say. I forced my eyes open. A bag of fluids hung on a rung above me. We were in Recovery Girl's office.

"Don't you dare move girl – your electrolytes and temperature were so low I couldn't heal you right away. Your back is still very damaged." Recovery Girl snapped. I frowned.

Aizawa sighed, "yes, Kazeya did pass both the written and the practical. Although, we were not expecting her to pull out a new support weapon."

"My sister had it ordered before her accident. Catastrophe gave them to me at her funeral," I explained, feeling for the item with minimal movement. They weren't in my pockets. Oh no, I lost them already! I immediately tried to sit up, only getting a few inches off the bed before my body was whacked with pain. My vision went black as I hit the bed again.

"Todoroki – are her lips still blue? Good, I can heal her now." Todoroki? Was Shoto in the room too? I felt her lips peck my forehead. It took a second, but my body felt instantly drained of all energy. "There, now you're healed, but take it easy. Your brother almost broke your back with that move there." I opened my eyes again and looked to my right, my brother had his chest wrapped up and sat propped up on a sea of pillows. It looked like he had trouble breathing. Recovery Girl was at her desk giving Aizawa, who was standing against the wall, a glare. I turned to my other side, Shoto sat in a chair beside me.

"Hey – you did a number on me, broke four ribs and punctured a lung. Your training's finally paying off – just like what, eleven years too late." Kaosuke joked. I turned and stuck my tongue out at him. Jerk.

Recovery Girl tapped her cane on Kao's bed, "you're both healed up and free to go. Be careful getting home – both of your injuries were severe, and you will be sore for the next while. Aizawa's going to drive the two, or three, of you home so you can rest." She hit a few more buttons on her keyboard before jumping down from her chair and left the infirmary.

Aizawa sighed, pushing himself off the wall, "I don't have all day. Kazeya – you can bring your suit back another day." My brother threw his sheets off himself and stood, groaning with each breath, and followed our teacher out of the infirmary. I tried to pull myself up into a seated position – but even with my back healed pain radiated from my spine. I felt a hand on my back and another on my shoulder.

"Thanks," I winced as Shoto helped me sit up. Aizawa was right – I was still in my suit. There was no way I was taking this skin-tight rubberized suit off without bending my back. Shoto helped me stand. "How was the rest of the class?"

Shoto shrugged as we walked. I had to rely on him to support most of my weight. "I was distracted."

"By what?" We made it to the elevator.

"I was wondering how your test was going." He said simply. "But now I wish we could have watched it."

"These injuries make it seem more eventful," I cringed, leaving the elevator. Aizawa had pulled up his smaller yellow car to the front of the gates. My brother was just getting into the front passenger seat.

"We could see the tornado you made from the classroom." I paled and stopped walking. That was embarrassing. "What made you angry?"

We left the school's main doors. "I thought about when Stain attacked and the damage he inflicted on everyone." He stiffened beside me. We walked to Aizawa's car in silence and Shoto helped me into the seat.

"Are you coming over to look after Natsume?" Kaosuke prodded as he looked at Aizawa. Shoto looked up at him as well. Aizawa sighed and waved Shoto in. He moved around the car and slipped into the seat beside me. The fifteen-minute ride was only filled with Kao's loud remarks and Aizawa's short sentences. I could feel my limbs getting heavier and heavier. I missed the feeling of those warm blankets over top of me. Once we arrived back home, Kao immediately went to bed and ordered himself a pizza as I was not cooking anything tonight. Shoto helped me inside and up to my bedroom. Aizawa left once we were safely inside.

I heaved a long breath, laying on my bed, under layers of blankets. Shoto sat in my desk chair, watching me, "are you cold?"

I looked down at the five duvets over top of me and the extra heavy knitted blanket around my shoulders, "I'll warm up eventually." He frowned at that and pulled back my blankets, crawling into my bed beside me. "W-what are you doing?"

He wrapped his left arm around my back, "keeping you warm." I felt the warmth from his fireside spread throughout my body. It felt even better than those heated blankets.

"Thanks, Shoto," I smiled, rolling into his chest a little, his grip tightened on me.


	11. Photos

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I stood upright with a groan before answering it. My body still hurt with some torso movements. "Hi, Shoto."

"Where are you," he asked on the other end. "Weren't we walking to school together?"

I froze, staring across the rubble that Kaosuke and I had made yesterday. "Oh no! Shoto, I'm so sorry I forgot. I went to school early to return my suit." I crouched down again, slowly, and started to move the concrete.

"What are you doing?" He started walking, I could hear his steps.

"I lost my sister's support weapon during the fight. I'm just trying to find it." I explained, trying to remember where I could have dropped them.

"Natsume, don't over-due it. I'll be right there." The line went dead. I bit my lip and put my phone away. I continued to shuffle through the rubble around the shop Kao had thrown me at yesterday. One of them had to be around here. I continued to search the rubble, my arms growing tired. I lifted a larger slab of concrete just outside of the window of the shop. I let out a relieved sigh. I had found one at least. I crouched down and picked it up. I turned it over in my hands a few times, thankfully there was no damage. I held it close to my chest for a moment, the anxiety that had built up in my stomach slowly faded away. I started to walk in the direction of the exit. "Natsume!"

I turned to see Shoto running through the rubble Kao and I had made yesterday. I raised a hand and gave Shoto a small wave as he neared. He had his bag shrugged over one shoulder and brushed his hair out of his face with his fingers. "Sorry again."

He shook his head, "don't be. Have you had any luck so far?"

I nodded, holding up the one I had found, "I must've dropped this one when I crashed through the window. I think I dropped the other by the exit but we were high up when that happened so it could be anywhere."

"I'm glad you're okay," Shoto let out a long breath, "it sounds like you two had an intense fight." We started towards the exit, scanning the ground and overturned any slabs of stone on the way. Shoto took the left while I took the right side.

"I'm a little sore still – but it's nothing compared to what our normal fights are like," I gave him a smile. He did not look too pleased with that. "Hey, that just means I'm improving." He returned my smile, he had to agree with that.

"I promised your parent's I'd look out for you. I can't do that if your own brother's the one injuring you." He knelt and moved a slab of stone from the building I had destroyed when I crashed into it. He stood back up; hand extended to me.

I gasped and wrapped my arms around him, "thank you!" I quickly realized my instantaneous reaction and backed away from him, hands behind my back. "S-sorry."

Shoto shook his head and lifted my right hand, placing the handle in my palm. "Don't worry about it. Let's head to the pool." I nodded, putting the two handles back into their original box. Shoto and I walked in silence back towards the main school building. Shoto's phone buzzed. He took it out of his pocket, "looks like Midoriya's planning on doing some endurance training at the pool today too."

I stretched my neck out, it was still sore from Kaosuke. "He never lets up his training for a moment."

Shoto nodded. "He has improved a lot since we started school. His body could not handle his quirk before." I frowned, remembering his broken arms, legs, and fingers from the simplest attacks.

"Natsume, Todoroki," Yaoyorozu called from the front of the change rooms, "ready for some fun?" We nodded.

"I'll see you on the other side." Shoto fixed his bag on his shoulder and entered his change room.

Ashido peaked her head around the corner, "did you walk here with Todoroki?"

"Y-y-yeah," I stammered, looking at my feet. "We live near each other." She pursed her lips with a smile and slunk around the corner.

I followed Yaoyorozu inside, the other girls were already in the process of changing into their school swimsuits. I shrugged my backpack off my back and set it on the bench. I unzipped the bag and frowned, pulling the top of my suit out.

"I'm not going swimming," I shook my head, tossing the swimsuit back into my bag.

Uraraka adjusted herself before sitting on the bench beside my bag, "why don't you want to go swimming anymore?"

I held up the white bikini top, "my god damn brother changed my suit."

"It's cute though," Uraraka frowned. "Plus, Todoroki's here too. You'll wow him in that."

"It's not him I'm worried about." I sighed, sitting beside her in defeat. Todoroki had unfortunately seen me in my underwear before thanks to my brother. He had no reaction and acted completely normal.

"Right," Jiro shrugged, "Mineta and Kaminari had requested to use the pool for endurance training. If they're the ones behind it, you know it's for nefarious reasons." Exactly.

Momo picked up my bottoms, "if they make a fuss about you looking so cute, I can make you a cover, so you feel better."

I gave her a smile, "thanks Momo. You guys don't have to wait for me, I'll get changed and come on out." The girls cheered before leaving the locker room. I hung my head, forcing myself into the white bikini. It covered everything perfectly fine, it just showed off my back more than I liked. I undid the bun on the top of my head and put my bag into the locker after taking out my towel. I could hear the boys out on the deck already. I filled my lungs with air, held it for a moment, then let it out as I stepped out of the locker room. I quickly moved over to where the girls were stretching loosely as a group and joined them. I tried to keep my eyes trained on the blue sky above us, but I kept looking over at Shoto. He sat on the ground leaning against the wall to the locker rooms with his eyes stuck on me. Man, was this embarrassing. So far, all the boys but Midoriya, Mineta, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Bakugo were here.

"Let's play," Uraraka smiled, holding up a ball. We all eagerly agreed and slipped into the water. I would be able to hide my back from everyone far more easily. We tossed the ball around, some of us using our quirks to keep the ball in the water. I was able to use a slight breeze to keep the ball in the pool while Tsu used her tongue.

"Everyone, do we want to see which of the boys can swim the fifty meters the fastest?" Iida called out to everyone with his hand raised in a perfect line. I froze. That would mean that I would have to get out of the pool. My field of vision suddenly went black. I had not paid attention to Tsu throwing the ball to me and it had hit me in the centre of my face. I rubbed the bridge of my nose as Uraraka swam for the ball and Tsu apologized. We all got out of the pool. I took my time and came out last, trying to hide behind the others. Bakugo and Kirishima had arrived.

"We can help," Momo offered as she made her way over to Iida. I felt a fluffy towel drape over my shoulders as I massage my face where the ball had hit.

"Are you okay?" Shoto kept his hands-on my shoulders while the others planned their race.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just got a little caught off guard." I gave him a reassuring smile, "thanks for your towel by the way."

His face fell and he turned to glare at some of the boys who had their eyes on me, "it can't be comfortable in front of those two."

"Y-yeah. Kao switched my swimsuit at the last minute." Shoto rolled his eyes. He was used to my brother's antics by now.

"Natsume – you're down at the end," Kaminari called as he waved like a beckoning cat. "The winner gets a kiss from our beautiful Natsume."

"I'm not kissing any of you," I shouted, stalking down to the end of the pool. They still needed someone to watch for close calls, but I was not kissing anyone. Kaminari, Mineta, Tokoyami, Koji, and Bakugo were in the first heat. Momo gave them a short countdown before blowing the whistle. Everyone dove into the water, except for Bakugo. He jumped up and set small explosions off in his palms to keep him moving until he got to the other side. "Winner of heat one is Bakugo," I called. They had agreed that quirks could be used so he won fair and square. Some of the boys started to object but were quieted by Iida reminding them of that very fact.

"Todoroki, you're in this heat," Iida ordered. Shoto shrugged while giving Kaminari and Mineta a look that could kill. Was he as irked at that prize as I was? Or did he want to win? I pulled his towel closer. Shoto got onto the first block with Kirishima, Sato, Sero, and Aoyama. Momo blew the whistle. Shoto used his ice quirk to slide along his lane. Sero used his tape to swing over to the other side but had become tangled with Aoyama who tried to use his naval laser but could not stay in his own lane. He jumped off his shed of ice in front of me. I could not help but stare at Shoto. Damn did he look good?

"Todoroki wins heat two!" He gave me a small smile before returning to where everyone else stood. The last heat had Iida, Midoriya, Ojiro, and Shoji. Iida was the only one to not get in the water for the heat. Instead, he stood on the lane dividers and used his engine to propel him down the rope. Midoriya glowed a light electric green as his speed increased. This one would be close. Midoriya has just touched the wall a half-second sooner than Iida. "Winner of heat three is Midoriya."

"Winner of this heat gets Natsume's kiss!" Mineta and Kaminari cried. Shoto looked as determined as he was during the sports festival, but his gaze was glued to me.

"That's not funny," Jiro glared at the two boys as the other girls yelled at them. Momo was torn but began the countdown and blew the whistle. The three jumped off their blocks but fell into the water instead of using their quirks.

"Your time is up," Aizawa called from behind the group. "It is five o'clock. Please clean up and head home." I smiled. Aizawa had messed them up and I would not have to kiss anyone. Victory.

"Hey! Todoroki's the only one that swam," Kaminari pointed out with a pout. "That means he gets the kiss." No. There was no way that could count. Some of the boys, Kaminari and Mineta, pouted and complained while making plans for later as they left the deck.

"Have fun with that kiss," Ashido cooed as the girls walked into the change room as well.

"What? There's no way I'm kissing anyone in a bet," I gawked. I watched as Shoto pulled himself out of the pool. I handed him his towel, looking as far away as I could.

He took it, "don't worry, I only wanted to win so that you wouldn't have to kiss anyone." I turned back to look at him in shock. He had won for me, not himself. Damn. I felt my heart thump in my chest. Shoto had the towel on his head, gently drying the water from his two-toned hair.

"T-thanks," I smiled, walking with him to the change rooms. I lifted my towel off the hook, "but – you did win chivalrously." I stood beside him and rose onto my tiptoes, placing a light kiss on his left cheek. "That's for winning."

Shoto stared at me for a moment, a very light shade of pink creeping onto his cheeks. He was cute when he blushed, "you didn't have to."

"I know," I lightly punched his arm, "but after that selfless act, you deserved it. At least I hope it was." He smiled and nodded. "Did you get to do any errands to prepare for camp?"

"No actually," he shook his head, setting his towel around his neck. "Have you?" I shook my head. "Do you want to go do those errands after this?"

"Sure," I smiled taking a step back, "see you on the other side?" He nodded, not moving until I was fully in the change room.

"Did he get his kiss?" Ashido bounded up to me in her underwear. I froze. "Did he?"

"Uh," I stammered. I hid my face in my towel and beelined for my locker, slamming it open and tearing my stuff out. Ashido and the others started laughing and catcalling.

"How long have you two been dating," Hagakure asked as she pulled her shirt on.

I froze. Why did people think we were together? "We're not. We-we're just friends."

"Sure," Ashido popped her lips together. "We'll see how fast that changes." I changed out of my suit and dried off, careful of the bruises from our fight.

I sat down at my desk with a hot cup of chai. I had pulled out my duffel bag from my closet and had packed most of what was on the list.

I plugged my phone into my computer, opening the camera gallery folder. I quietly hummed to myself as I pulled up the photos that I had taken of Shoto and I. I had snapped five photos that day. In the first, Shoto had his typical uninterested face, the second he had a small smile, and the third he had a larger smile. The last two he had turned to look at me, the large smile still on his face. I froze, blinking quickly. I let out a loud, "ehh?"

In a second my bedroom door had been burst off its hinges and Kaosuke stood in the doorway with his glacial fists at the ready. "What happened?"

I went wide-eyed and jumped up, trying to block my screen. I gasped, watching as my full cup of chai wobbled and splashed across my keyboard. I watched as my keyboard began to smoke and my computer screen turned black. "What? No. No way." I started to type away on the keyboard and tried to turn the screen and the tower back on. I hung my head in despair. "It's done."

Kaosuke began to laugh, "you're such a klutz Natsu!" I unplugged my older desktop and gave Kao the tower. "What are you doing?"

"You're helping me bring this to the repair shop to see if they can do anything about it." I frowned, putting my phone into my pocket, grabbed my backpack with my wallet, and picked up my screen and keyboard.

"You leave tomorrow – does this have to be done now?" Kao whined as we walked downstairs and out the front door.

"I'm gone for a week. Hopefully, by the time I'm back, they'll know if it'll be easy to fix or if it'll be cheaper to buy a new computer," I sighed, hanging my head. How could I be so stupid to spill tea on my computer? "If I need a new computer then I'll have to start looking for a summer job."

"And to pay for a new door," Kao adjusted the tower in his arms.

"You broke it you're buying it." We turned down an alley full of hole in the wall shops below their owner's homes. "I expect a new door by the time I come back."

"That's asking a lot of me," Kao frowned as we entered a small electronics repair shop. "Remember – I'm hopeless." A stout man with rounded features and a half-grown beard turned to face us.

"Did he break more?" He looked at my brother unimpressed. Kao had managed to damage quite a few of our electronics with his random outbursts. Especially if he brought Tamaki or Fat Gum over.

"He broke my door – but this was me." I sighed, setting the screen and keyboard down on the glass-topped display case. Kaosuke put the tower up as well. The man lifted his left hand, this finger trips screwed over to the right and cables shot out and plugged into my computer.

"You spilt tea on it and fried the thing. You're my best customers though." He pursed his lips as his cables retracted into his hands, "hundred eighty thousand and I can fix it for you."

I got my wallet out and paid. There goes the rest of what I had made from doing desk work at our parent's agency last summer.


	12. Boot Camp

"There's so many girls," Mineta drooled, staring at the girls of class B who were waiting to board their bus. His hands reached out and twitched. Gross. "It's a buffet of bombshells." We were supposed to be training to become better heroes in training – not forced to watch our backs every second because of Mineta.

My phone began to vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and glared at Kao's name. Iida called for everyone to line up. I wandered away from the group slightly as I answered his call, "I've been gone for twenty minutes. What did you do?"

"I can't figure out how to cook this thing you left me," Kao whined on the other end. We ate a large breakfast this morning, and he was already hungry?

I frowned, "is it frozen?"

"Uh-huh," he affirmed. It was not even past nine in the morning, and he was already planning to eat one of the curries or stir-fries I had left him. What on earth did he do before I moved down to the main island?

"Put it in the microwave and hit defrost for all of them. You've got two weeks worth of food in there for an average person – one week for you depending on how much Fat Gum gives you."

"Come back home quick!" I hung up on him. I put my phone back into my pocket and turned back to the bus. Everyone had already crowded onto the coach and Aizawa was staring at me. I bit my lip, apologized, and hopped on the bus. I scanned the bus for an empty seat when Shoto waved me over. I passed Uraraka and Tsu and slipped into the seat beside him. We were the farthest from Mineta and Kaminari. I was going to have to look over my shoulder constantly this trip with those two around. Everyone was yammering away about playing music, playing a game, or some other fun bus activity while Iida was trying to calm everyone down to listen to an announcement from Aizawa. It was eight in the morning, and people were excited about the ride.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" Shoto pulled out his phone and opened his Netflix app.

"Isn't it a little too loud on the bus?" Shoto shook his head and pulled out two pairs of noise-cancelling headphones. Had he planned this? No Natsume – get your sugar plum dreams out of your head. I smiled at his smile, "sure." I took the pair he offered me and slid them on. He plugged the cable into a dual headphone adapter, and we scrolled through some of the movies until we came across an American release.

It was an hour and a bit before the bus pulled off the road to a base rest stop that overlooked an expansive forest. Shoto and I got off with everyone to stretch our legs. I was used to long trips thanks to the distance between Tokyo and home, so I began to walk to the edge, peering at the mountains in the distance. Just how much more did we have left?

I heard a car pull into the rest stop from the other direction. "Hey yeah, Eraser," two female voices cooed as they got out of the car. I looked over my shoulder to see half of the Wild, Wild Pussycats striking their pose with a very uninterested boy off to the side.

"These are the pro-heroes you'll be working with at the summer training camp," Aizawa began to explain. Why were we meeting them here and not at our basecamp? Aw shit. They were probably going to have us start our training here to get to the basecamp. Midoriya began to geek out over the creation and members of the quartet.

"We own this whole stretch of land. The summer camp you'll be staying at is there, at the base of the mountain," Mandalay pointed at the expanse. She was dressed in red and had the quirk telepath.

"If we're going there, then why did we stop all the way out here," Uraraka asked, the class began to get uneasy.

"The current time is nine-thirty in the morning," Mandalay smirked, her tail wagging, "if you're fast about it, you might make it there by noon." People began to run for the bus.

Kirishima looked mortified as he backed away from the heroes, "save yourselves!" I sighed and watched as Pixie Bob used her quirk to create a mudslide that swept everyone off the cliff. I twisted my body and created a small cloud as the rest of the class fell. I frowned if only I were strong enough to make a large enough cloud to support everyone.

Mandalay gave me a look that seemed to be a mix of satisfied and outwitted, "good news! Since this is private land, you can use your quirks as much as you want to! You've got three full hours. You should be able to make it to the facility at that time if you can make it through the beast's forest." She gave me a thumbs up, which I apprehensively returned. I began to float closer to the tree line above my class.

I watched from above as a giant mud-like creature stood over Mineta who had run into the forest to find a spot to urinate. Midoriya leapt up to save Mineta as Koda tried to control the beast with his ani-voice. I snapped my fingers, lightning hit the forearm, knocking it off balance. Shoto froze it to the ground as Iida and Bakugo attacked the creature.

"You might want to keep your attention to the sky," Pixie Bob yelled at me. I turned to face her as something hit my back. I tumbled through the air until I could create another cloud. I landed in a squat and met the creation that hit me. Pixie Bob had made a giant pterodactyl-like creature out of earth. I breathed out and focused on creating a few smaller clouds in the area. Kaosuke used his hail as steppingstones, and maybe I could do the same with clouds. I pushed off my cloud and snapped my fingers. Lighting shot out of both hands and stuck the creature, destroying it.

"It's raining mud," Hagakure shouted.

I landed on another cloud behind the where the creature had been, "sorry!"

She looked up and waved at me, "oh, there you are Natsume! What are you doing up there?"

"Behind you," Jiro shouted, pointing upwards. I turned and saw ten smaller creatures dive-bombing towards where the class was. I rushed upwards on my cloud, pushing my arms outwards. I felt a significant heavy mass release from my hands and rushed towards the creatures. They were halted in their flight path and began to disintegrate.

I returned to the tree line, "I'll stay up here so we can keep a straight path to our destination. I'll help on the ground as much as I can when there isn't an aerial attack." Midoriya gave me a thumbs up. We slowly made our way through the forest, only covering about five kilometres from where we started. Pixie Bob and Aizawa were staring at out at the massive dirt explosions that rose whenever the class defeated a creature. She liked to send monsters to dive-bomb the group or to attack me individually.

I watched a beast rise behind Shoto and Iida. No one was noticing it as it closed in on them. I felt my heart stop beating and my stomach drop. My jaw tightened, and my pulse began to thump in my head, suddenly shifting from nothing to a hundred. I threw my right arm across my chest and downward. A sliver of air cut through the treetops and sliced the creature in half, the top portion slowly sliding to the ground.

I watched as Shoto stared at the creature that was just ten feet from him before turned to look up through the new hole in the treescape. He smiled before running forward.

"Is that a new move Kazeya," Iida shouted, giving me a thumbs up.

"K-k-kind of," I murmured, rubbing the back of my head. I had been able to make a blade of wind once under Catastrophe – but I had been unable to replicate it on my own since. I followed the class as we picked up speed towards the cabin. Everyone was working so well together to take the creatures down. I was able to sustain those blades of wind to cut down the flying creatures and some of the ones on the ground.

Once we finally made it to the cabin, the sun was already well into setting. My body was freezing, and I shivered uncontrollably. My cloud grazed the ground, and my feet began to walk as it disappeared. I wrapped my arms around myself and rubbed my bare arms. Shoto walked up behind me. He was breathing heavily; his right cheek was covered with frostbite. His hand left hand rested on my back, and I felt heat spreading through me. I wanted to melt like a cat at a fireplace into him.

I looked around at the rest of the class. Everyone was far worse for wear, covered in scratches and dirt. Iida's engines were sputtering, Kaminari was incredibly dumb, Mineta's scalp was bleeding profusely, and Ojiro's tail was limp. Since I had been on my cloud the entire time, I had avoided the scratches and dirt, but since I kept using my quirk consistently for over eight hours – I was like an ice pop.

"You said it would only be three hours," Kirishima complained, plopping onto the ground and held his stomach.

"Sorry – I guess we timed it for how long it would take us," Mandalay waved her paw in front of her face.

Pixie Bob began to meow, "I thought it would take you guys even longer! But you did much better against my dirt monsters than I thought you would. You guys were especially great, especially the five of you!" She pointed towards us. Iida and Midoriya stood on the other side of Shoto and me while Bakugo was massaging his wrist to my left. "Seems like you've had quite a bit of experience. I call dibs on these kittens; I'll groom them myself!" She began to fuss over us. Shoto moved to stand in front of me to block her access to me.

"Wait – who is that?" Midoriya pointed to the small boy who had been at the rest stop this morning.

"Oh, that's my cousin's son. He lives with us now. Say hi Kota, you'll be around them for the next week." Mandalay explained. Kota's scowl deepened. I looked over at Bakugo, was this kid going to turn out to be like him? I hope not. Midoriya walked over and introduced himself. Kota punched Midoriya in the balls. Iida rushed over to keep Midoriya upright.

"Enough playing around. Get your bags off the bus. Once your stuff is in your rooms, meet in the cafeteria for dinner. Once you're done, you can bathe and sleep," Aizawa instructed. "Tomorrow your training starts in earnest; you better get a move on. Kazeya – you can change." I nodded, my teeth still chattering. We made our way to the bus, taking our bags out from the undercarriage. I threw my duffle over my shoulder and held my backpack in front of my chest. Shoto slipped his pack on easily. We walked into the building, quickly finding the girl's room on the left and the boys down the hall to the right. I felt even colder when Shoto had to let his touch drop.

I dropped my bags on the bed next to Uraraka's. I quickly opened my duffel and took out a pair of Harumi's old, grey, Saikara Academy sweatpants and a black hoodie from Excel's concert that my ex-boyfriend had taken me to. I pulled out a package of electrolyte powder and put it into the pouch of the hoodie. I left the girl's room and headed down to the cafeteria. Everyone was already seated at tables overflowing with piles upon piles of food. I looked over my classmates who were stuffing their faces full of all the food that they could. I slipped into the empty seat between Yaoyorozu and Sero.

"How are you feeling," Shoto asked as he put his bowl of rice down. I had not even noticed that Shoto was across from the open seat.

I smiled at him as I filled a bowl with miso soup, "good."

"Are you still cold?" I nodded my head. "Hey, Yaoyorozu, would you switch seats with me?"

I flushed, "i-i-i-it's alright. I'll warm up eventually."

Yaoyorozu looked between us, "alright." The two quickly exchanged their plates, and Shoto sat down beside me. He put his hand on my mid-back and let his heat rush through me. The warmth felt so good. "Todoroki, do you do this every time Kazeya overuses her quirk?" I tried to hide my face in my soup.

Shoto shrugged and continued to eat with his right hand. I tried to focus on my soup, holding the bowl with both hands and sipped the miso from the edge.

Yaoyorozu kept her gaze on us for a moment longer before she continued to eat, "you have to try the dumplings Kazeya." I put my empty soup bowl down and thanked her, placing a few onto my plate with some tempura, rice, and a large portion of seaweed salad. I took the package out of my pouch and emptied it into my glass of water. "What is that?"

"Electrolytes," I explained with a stir of my drink, "my wind lowers my body temperature, but my lightning uses the electrolytes in my body. J-just need to make sure I replenish often so I can stay warm." I smiled at her before downing the beverage.

"Isn't that dangerous," she asked, picking up some beef strips that Pixie Bob had just set on our table.

I began to stammer as my shoulders gravitated towards my ears, "s-s-s-sometimes."

Shoto frowned, "you should put a body temperature regulator in your suit."

I turned and looked at Shoto. "That's possible?" He nodded, placing a piece of tempura into his mouth. We continued to eat the massive feast in front of us until nothing remained. I was warmer thanks to Shoto and the soup I drank, but my limbs still trembled. We went back to our rooms to gather our pyjamas after dinner before heading to the hot springs. I needed to get into that water and seep up all that warmth.

I stripped off my sweats and hoodie, placing them in a neat pile at the bottom of the locker with my underwear. I took the towel that was provided and continued to the cleansing zone, washing my body roughly with the barely warm water while the others took their time undressing. I took the towel and placed it on a rock near the entrance to the spring and quickly tied my long hair up as I slunk into the water. It was warm and luxurious. But it was not close to that feeling of gratefulness I had when Shoto used his fireside to warm me. I found the deepest part of the hot spring and laid back against a rock. The water reached the bottom of my collarbone.

Ashido entered the hot spring next, "man – this feels amazing!" She climbed up on top of a rock. The others began to fall in line, slinking into the warm water.

"We're so lucky that they have a hot spring's here," Jiro sighed, relaxing. We were pulled from our bliss when Iida yelled out Mineta's name. Just great.

"Before you become a hero – you should learn how to become a good human!" We all looked up to see Kota in the middle of the barrier that separated the two baths, holding up Mineta's arm. Kota let go of his arm.

"I'll get you for this," Mineta screamed as he fell.

"Mineta really is the worst, isn't he?" Tsu put a finger to her lips.

Ashido stretched her arms up and over her head, "thanks Kota-babe! We owe you one." The boy looked over his shoulder at us before his face turned bright red. He went over the side into the boy's bath. I stood up, ready to use my wind to save him when we heard the boys shouting compliments to Midoriya. I let myself relax again, knowing that Kota was safe.

"Hey Natsume – what's on your back," Uraraka asked as she stood in front of me, arms over her chest.

I froze, shoulder quickly rising to meet my earlobes, "w-w-what are you t-t-talking about?" Ashido hopped off her rock and swam beside me. "It's just an old scar, that's it." I flushed, sinking down to hide my face in the water.

"It's cool, though! I've never seen a scar like that," Ashido shouted.

I jumped at Hagakure's voice behind me, "it's like a lightning strike!"

Ashido perked up, "did you accidentally shock yourself? Kirishima accidentally cut himself when he first used his quirk – that's how he got the scar about his eye."

I shook my head, lifting my face out of the water. "I accidentally got in the way of my Dad using his quirk when I was younger, hit my back and left that mark. Got my quirks a few weeks later though." I felt Hagakure's finger tracing the outline on my back. That was before I developed the natural resistance to electrical currents and high voltages. I was three when Harumi was walking around with me attached to her like a koala. Our father did not know I was connected to her when he hit her with a bolt of lightning.

"Does Todoroki know about it," Yaoyorozu pursed her lips from across the bath.

I froze, staring straight through her. My heart began to hammer in my ears, my head pounding. I quickly ducked into the water and hugged my knees tightly to my chest. Why was she asking all these questions about us? I quickly came up for air, "what? No, of course not!"

"But aren't you two dating," she continued to press. "Or were you two keeping that a secret?"

There was no chance that my face was not bright red. "We're just friends, that's it."

"Don't the two of you walk to school every day?"

"We live a few blocks from each other – it's convenient."

Yaoyorozu sighed, "aw man, I was hoping it was true. You two would be so cute together." She lifted her arms in defeat.

"It's like Uraraka and Midoriya," Tsu mused. Uraraka's face went bright red, and she stammered to deny it. "Or Jiro and Kaminari."

"Whoa – hold up. I'm not friends with that perverted Jamming Way." Jiro snorted. We all shared a laugh at the expense of the boys. We stayed in the hot springs for over an hour, chatting and joking away. I felt far more comfortable around the girls now. My body temperature was finally within its normal range, so I changed into a black tank top and a pair of my brother's old basketball shorts. I kept the sweat set together on top of my bags since I doubt there would be a single day where I would not need them. The girls were all beat, falling asleep early. I wanted to make one more electrolyte drink to get a jumpstart on my system for tomorrow.

I searched the cafeteria for a spare, clean glass I could borrow. I found some on the dishracks at the end of the industrial sinks. I took one off, poured my powder inside and filled it with water, swirling it to stir. My phone vibrated in the pocket of my shorts. I frowned; how many times did Kao need to call to figure out how to work the microwave? I took out my phone, freezing when I saw Shoto's name. I quickly slide my thumb across the screen to accept the call. "Hello?"

"Did the hot spring help?" I could hear the boys yammering in the background.

"Y-yeah, my body temp is within range now." I watched as the powder dissolved.

"If you get cold, tell me right away, okay?"

"O-o-okay."

"Have a good sleep."

"Hey, Shoto. Thank you."

* * *

"Get up," Aizawa banged on our door. I rolled over and picked up my phone. It was five in the morning. "You have twenty minutes." I got onto my knees as the other girls covered their faces with pillows or blankets. I stretched my arms up above my head and moved to turn the room light on.

Ashido sat up, eyes closed, and hugged her pillow. "Come on, guys, let's get out there before the boys," she yawned and fell backwards onto her bed. I toggled the light switch – it helped wake Kaosuke up for work when needed – before going to the bathroom with my toiletry bag to brush my teeth.

"Natsume," Uraraka moaned, "how are you productive?"

I washed my mouth out before popping my head out of the bathroom, "I've been trying to work out around now lately."

Uraraka frowned and fell back onto her pillow. Tsu and Jiro were gathering their things lazily. Yaoyorozu was gently removing the mask she had applied to her face the night before. I popped back into the bathroom and changed out of my pyjamas and into our gym uniform, slipping a black racerback tank top on as well. I left the bathroom and remade my futon.

"I thought you wanted to beat the boys," Jiro poked Ashido's cheek.

She sputtered for a moment before sitting upright, "I'm awake." I opened the messages on my phone while I waited for the other girls to finish getting ready. There was a message from my parents wishing me luck for the weekend. As well as one from Kaosuke asking if I was prepared to quit and come home yet.

When everyone was ready, we headed out to the front of the building. Half of the boys were still trickling out. I stood at the back of the class, playing with the hair tie on my wrist. Shoto was speaking with Midoriya when he noticed me. I gave him a small smile. He turned back to Midoriya for a moment before excusing himself and walked to the back of the class, "good morning."

"G-g-good morning," I lowered my gaze to the dirt and put my hair up into a bun.

"Good morning class – today we'll begin work to increase your strength. The goal is to increase your skills exponentially to get your provisional license. This will allow you to face the dangers that fester in the darkness. Look alive, Bakugo." Aizawa threw the ball to him. "When you first started school, your record was seven hundred and five-point two meters. Let us see if you've improved."

Bakugo moved towards the forest, warmed up his shoulder and threw the ball, "die!"

Aizawa held up the reader, "that was seven oh nine point six meters. You've had an entire semester at UA. During your various experience, you've all improved, but that's been in mental prowess and technical skill. As you can see, your quirks themselves have not improved much on a fundamental level. This will be so hard you'll feel like you're dying. Let's hope you all survive." A sinister flame erupted from Aizawa as he smiled at us.

We are going to be working on training your quirks. Quirks are like a muscle; the more your train them stronger they get," Aizawa explained as we walked through the forest away from the building. We stopped in a large clearing. Aizawa started to do down the class list, assigning a different training to each. He pointed to me next. "Kazeya, you've improved on the quirks quite a bit since being transferred into our class. But your basic attacks are still just a slow breeze. I want you to try to blow this boulder to the top of the mountain." Aizawa patted a large boulder that was twice his height.

My jaw slackened. How the hell was I supposed to move this thing – uphill too? There was no way that I would be able to drive a five-ton piece of stone a centimetre, let alone an entire kilometre. Sure, my quirks had grown in skill exponentially since the incident with Shinzo – but he was expecting too much.

"Figure it out." Aizawa placed his hand on my head for a moment before continuing to Kirishima.


	13. Progress

Over the course of twelve hours, I had done absolutely nothing. I had tried to create a cloud to lift the boulder, but I could not pull it even a nanometer off the ground. I tried to push the boulder-like I had to those dive-bombing mud creatures yesterday, it did not wobble. Nothing that I tried left the slightest dent. My Mom could hold together entire skyscrapers and lift thousands of people on her cloud. How had I made it into the hero course?

"You haven't made any progress," Aizawa frowned from behind me, dropping a blanket over my shoulders. I quickly wrapped it around myself, teeth chattering away.

"You're ov-overestimating what my g-g-growth is," my teeth clattered. The blanket was heated, but it was doing nothing for me.

"No," Aizawa frowned, "you've just got to think outside of the box. It's dinner time – go take a dip in the hot spring before then." He stalked away towards the others who were walking back to the cabin. I watched as Shoto lifted himself out of his metal barrel, using his fireside to dry himself off. He picked up his jacket as he made his way to me – he was sweating from the temperature abuse. I bit my lip and rushed past both classes of students to the cabin. I quickly gathered a plain blue tank top, hoodie, and black sweatpants from our room before going to the hot springs.

I slipped into the water while I tied my long hair into a bun on top of my head. My body kept shivering in the steaming bath. I let myself sink down enough for the water to cover the lower half of my face. With how nosy Yaoyorozu was yesterday – I would need to be careful around Shoto. I needed to find another way to reheat my body after using my quirk.

I would need to stop relying on him. I frowned, dipping my face forward in the water. I would have to inquire about changing my suit to include the heater Shoto had mentioned. I lifted my face out of the water and let out a groan. Why do I even care what the others thought about two of us being friends? We could be friends if we wanted to – we could even date if we wanted too. We could date… I gently tapped my hands against my cheeks. No - Shoto did not like me that way. We were just friends after all. But, what if those rumours prevented him from doing well and caused the same anxiety I had around the subject.

I stayed in the warm water for the next hour before reluctantly pulling myself out. I dressed myself and returned outside to the rear of the cabin. A large firewood grill was set up between two hoards of tables. Class A and Class B were working away on making dinner separately.

"Natsume," Uraraka waived with a knife in her hand. Tears stung her eyes. Onions.

"Put the damn thing down!" Bakugo snapped at her. She quickly recoiled and put the knife back down on the cutting board. I looked over the vegetables that were out of the table. Were we making curry?

I held the heated blanket closer to myself. "What can I help with?"

"Are you sure you're alright? Shouldn't you be warming up still?" Uraraka tilted her head, picked the knife back up, and pointed it at me.

"I'm good," I smiled, shrugging off the warm blanket and folded it. I would make do if I wanted to or not. Correction – I had to make due and get used to a natural lower body temperature if I was going to be able to fight long brawls.

"Well – no one's making the curry yet, are you good at cooking," Uraraka asked. Bakugo kept neatly chopping the vegetables as he watched us with a judgemental glower.

"Of course!" I washed my hands at the end of the table and picked up a large stew pot, dumping all the onions into it. My arms were so sore. I drizzled a little bit of oil into the pot and lugged it over to an open spot on the fire. My shoulder blades were screaming. When the curry was done – I doubt I'd be able to move it at all. I watched as the onions began to sizzle, gently stirring them once in a while. Hagakure and Jiro were working on the rice a few spots down.

"Kazeya's making the curry – it'll be way better than what Kaminari wanted to do," I heard Sero shout in the back. I gathered a small bowl of garlic and ginger, adding them to the pot.

"How's it going," Midoriya asked as he stood beside me with the plate of beef.

"I'm fine," I gave him a smile.

Midoriya adjusted his stance, "are you still cold?"

"I'm good," I gave him a little too large of a smile. It did help that I was so close to an open fire. "Do you mind dumping that in?" Midoriya nodded, adding the beef to the pot. They crackled as it hit the hot bottom.

"Well, if you need anything don't be afraid to give me a call," he smiled before bringing the plate over to the three on dish duty. I watched as the beef seared. I looked over my shoulder while the beef browned – Bakugo was holding the bowl of potatoes, the one of carrots was on the table in front of him. I swallowed before opening my mouth. I wonder if he still hated me.

"Bakugo, do you mind bringing the vegetables over?" I called back to him while stirring the mixture.

"Come get them your damn self," he shouted back before stalking into the cabin. I sighed, nudging the pot off the flame.

"I've got it." That was Shoto. I stiffened, shoulders floating up to my ears again. Oh no. I turned back to the pot, scrapping at the bottom with the spoon. I heard his footsteps approach and then stop. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." I cursed at myself. My voice came out too quick and in a higher octave. I took the potatoes from Shoto without looking at him and dumped them into the pot. I gave it a quick deep stir before he added the carrots.

"Are you cold?"

"Nope!" Act normal Natsu. I felt his hand on my back. "C-c-could you get a bucket of water?"

"Okay," Shoto removed his hand from my back and left my side. I kept rotating the vegetables occasionally while I opened the packages of curry paste. Shoto returned after a few minutes with a pot of water. He poured it in while I eyeballed the amount. I added in the cubes, stirring the mixture until they dissolved into the water. I need to wait for it to boil before putting the lid on. Shoto moved to put his hand on my back again.

"I-I-I'm fine." I stammered, taking a step away from him.

He tilted his head and raised a bow. "Natsume – what's wrong?"

I shook my head. "Nothing's wrong. I'm just fine."

"Are you sick?" He raised his hand and tried to place it on my forehead. I took a step back, my foot stepping on an uneven pile of firewood. I let out a yelp as I began to fall backwards. Shoto quickly grabbed onto my hand and waist, keeping me at a stark forty-degree angle. He gently pulled me back onto my feet. "You are a little red – why don't you sit down?"

I nodded, quickly giving the pot a good stir as it boiled and put the lid on. I sat down at a picnic bench, dropping my face in my hands. "Sorry, I'm just stuck on how to move that boulder. Either I'm too weak to move it or I haven't found the right way yet. I've only actually been using my quirk for about three months. I'm leaps and bounds behind all of you." I felt the blanket drape over my shoulders.

Shoto sat down beside me, his arm slinking under the blankets to warm me from the center of my back. "Natsume. You have a strong quirk. Yesterday, you saved Iida and I from a beast by slicing through it with your wind. I've never seen you do something like that before. You'll find a way to do it. I know you will." I kept my face hidden in my hands and focused on his touch. His fingers gently touched my back at my lower ribs. I could feel the concentration of heat stemming from his hand.

* * *

"I'm going to get some air," I said, folding my cards. I laid them down on the tatami before folding back my bedding.

Hagakure whined, "but you can't leave - we were going to play another game."

"If you're still playing when I come back, I'll hop back in," I reassured her. "I just need a moment." I stood up from my bed and walked over to my bags.

"Are you stuck on your progress," Yaoyorozu asked as she moved her cards around. How was she so damn perceptive?

I frowned, but nodded, "see you all soon." I quickly took my hoodie and left the room, sneaking out of the cabin. Aizawa had said that I needed to think outside of the box. It had not even crossed my mind to try to use my lightning to move the boulder. I needed to give it a try. I bit my lip and headed through the woods back to where we had been. I made my way past the remnants of where the others had been training, Uraraka's pile of rocks, the fire pits for Bakugo and Shoto, and Ashido's acid holes in the cliff. I stood in front of the boulder, taking in a deep breath and dropped my hoodie. I snapped my fingers, lightning hitting and cracking the boulder.

I froze, Aizawa never said anything about the boulder needing to be in one piece at the top of the mountain. I was either going to get in trouble for this, or a grunt that I was doing something right. I kept snapping my fingers, the cracks in the boulder expanding and growing deeper. I needed to do this. I began to hear my heartbeat in my ears as I puffed out my cheeks. I snapped my fingers again. The boulder snapped apart and fell into twenty large pieces.

I began to form a cloud at my feet and around the pieces of the boulder. I pushed my arms out. The cloud expanded out and picked up pieces of stone here and there. The weight was evenly distributed. I lifted my arms up, the cloud slowly rose. I slowly and steadily ascended the side of the mountain. I could feel the weight of the boulder on my arms, but it was not as bad as before. Maybe spreading out the weight over a greater area was the key to this. I pushed the rocks outward, separating the cloud into two, and let the fragments settle on the flat top of the mountain.

I jumped, falling to my knees on my cloud, as slow clapping began. I peered over the side of the cloud and back down to the ground at least a kilometer below. Was that Aizawa? I slowly began to descend, to the ground, righting myself before I hit the ground. It was Aizawa. Crap, I was in for a heap of trouble. "You finally figured it out."

"I did?" I looked between him and the peak of the mountain.

He nodded, glaring at me, "although I didn't expect you to keep trying after dark. Your next assignment will start at six now instead of eight as punishment."

I nodded, letting a small smile bloom on my face. "Thank you."

Aizawa tossed me a ball, "your homeroom teacher did this test with you before you transferred, right?"

I nodded, squeezing the ball in both of my hands. I hated this test.

"How far did you throw it using your quirk?"

"Twenty meters," I frowned, rubbing my thumb over the stitching.

Aizawa motioned with his head and pulled out the reader. "Give it a go."

I sighed, intertwining some of my fingers as I held the ball with my thumbs and pinkies. I pressed my intertwined fingers to my forehead. I let my fingers loosen and held the ball in my right hand. My arm pulled back before throwing the ball. I focused on increasing the density of air under the ball to allow for the pressure to propel it farther. I watched it fall within the clearing. My heart sank.

Aizawa looked at the reader before turning it to me, "six hundred and thirty-one meters. That's six hundred and fourteen meters farther than when you started the year in class C."

"W-w-what," I stammered as I stared at the reader. It hardly felt like I was improving. "That has to be wrong, that's far too high."

Aizawa looked at the reading again, "nope – that's correct. Either you're more dedicated to training your quirk, we've found a suitable method for you, or you stopped assuming you're the worst – for the most part."

"But – Bakugo's only improved by a few meters," I started to redirect.

Aizawa sighed, "if this were a game, you started at level zero while Bakugo had all the cheat codes to start at level sixty. In other words, your improvement will be far more noticeable than his due to the difference in abilities you two had prior to UA."

I looked back towards where the ball had landed. He was correct with all those assumptions. I had become more dedicated to training my quirk after the accident with Shinso and Tetsutetsu since I had been shown the extent my powers could soar too. Plus, the training from both my brother, Aizawa, and Catastrophe had helped me a lot – pending my ability to even use my quirk to the level needed to reach that type of training. I still knew that I was the worst with my quirk. Although – I now knew that I was not the absolute bottom of the barrel.

"Off to bed with you before I throw you in the remedial class," Aizawa sighed, starting towards the cabin. I hurried after him, walking beside him in silence until we reached the building. He entered the class where the six hero course students who failed were having their extra classes. I continued on to our room, smiling as I fiddled with my hands.

"Sorry, Natsume left not too – oh, there she is," Uraraka shouted. I looked up from my hands to see her waiving enthusiastically. Shoto stood in a white tank top and dark blue shorts in front of her. "Have fun!" She shut the door.

Shoto started towards me, hands in his pockets. Oh no, what do I do? I froze, watching him slowly make his way to me before stopping in front of me. "Do you have a moment to talk?"

"U-u-uh, sure." I stammered, shoving my hands behind my back. He reached over, took me by the elbow and trailed his touch down to my wrist until he had my hand. He turned and led me through the cabin to an open balcony on the second floor.

He dropped my hand and leaned against the rail. "Is what Yaoyorozu said yesterday bothering you? Is that why you don't like my warmth anymore?" He lifted his left hand and stared at his fingers with a frown.

I shook my head, stepping forward to hold his hand between my own. "It wasn't that exactly. She asked me later if we were secretly dating. I guess it just freaked me out since we're friends and I don't want people assuming things about you."

Shoto stiffened. "Yaoyorozu thinks we're dating?"

My stomach dropped, "apparently. I explained to her that we just live by each other and are just friends." I took a hand off his and scratched the back of my head awkwardly. I felt sick.

"Oh. Okay." He said, staring at our hands. "Is that all that was bothering you?"

"Yeah. I don't do well with rumors, so I overreacted." I sighed.

"Just friends," Shoto confirmed, withdrawing his hand from mine. He stared at the ground in front of his feet.

"Oh!" I perked up, clapping my hands together. "I figured it out. I got the boulder to the top of the mountain."

Shoto looked up and gave me a small smile. "That's great. I knew you could do it."

I caught the time in Shoto's watch. "It's already ten thirty? I have to be up early for training. I'll see you in the morning?"

He nodded. "Have a good sleep."

"You too," I forced a smile to him before rushing down the halls to our room. I quietly slid open our door, the light was still on. I turned the light off. Everyone had fallen asleep in the middle of playing cards. I carefully stepped around everyone and laid on my bed, adjusting the blanket over me.

* * *

I stood in front of the two slabs of rock, Aizawa beside me. "You want me to do what?"

Aizawa arched a brow before sighing, "you're going to use your wind and lightning at the same time using different hands. I want you to focus on pinpoint attacks." I nodded. This was going to be exactly like the training with Catastrophe, but both quirks at once. Right! I lifted my left hand to slice with my wind while my right hand readied a snap. I sliced my hand across myself and snapped. A weak gust of wind and a small static shock hit the rocks.

"Level zero," Aizawa stated as he walked back to the cabin. "Get it to at least level twenty by the time I come back." I bit my cheek. His scale was too subjective. But, regardless, I needed to improve before he returned.


	14. Flames

I stood in front of two destroyed pillars. My left arm was covered in swirling wind while my right had sparks of lightning. I was cold and drenched in sweat. Aizawa rolled his head from shoulder to shoulder as he kicked a hunk of rock I had sliced into the distance. "I guess I'd say you made it to level thirty. Now lets up it even farther tomorrow."

I smiled, letting my wind and lightning fall. I bowed at my waist, "thank you!"

"Go get warmed up," Aizawa shrugged me off and moved off to where Hagakure and Shoji were training. I picked up my jacket from the base of the tree I had left it under that morning and headed back towards the cabin. I was tired from the early morning – but nothing like Ashido, Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, and Sato who had extra late-night classes on top of the early morning classes too.

I repeated the previous day's actions, getting a change of clothes, and spent a few hours in the hot spring. After, I rejoined the class for dinner. I sat beside Todoroki with a large blanket covering me. He snuck his left hand under the blanket to warm me. At this point of overusing my quirk – it seemed as if I could only warm up to normal body temperature with him.

After dinner, both classes were corralled into another large clearing. I had left my blanket back in the girl's dorm. I stood at the back of the group next to Jiro.

"It's time for the test of courage," Mandalay, Rag Doll and Mina yelled out.

"Not so fast – it pains me to say it, but the remedial class will be having lessons with me tonight instead," Aizawa said from behind the group. Mina looked mortified. "Your training during the day didn't impress me so I'll be using this time." He captured the students in his support weapon and hauled them off to the main cabin.

"Okay! So class B will start out as our scarers – when they're in place class A will head off in pairs every three minutes. There are tags with your names on them at the far end of the route. Your goal is to collect those. Those that are scarers aren't allowed to make physical contact. Use your quirks to terrify the other class!" Pixie Bob shouted, waving her paws in the air.

"The winners are the creative students to make the most piss this pants," Tiger smiled evilly.

"We'll pull lots to find out which pairs you'll be in for the test of courage," Mandalay smiled holding strips of paper in her paw. Class 1-B rushed into the forest with Ragdoll to find their scaring spots. Everyone stood around Mandalay to draw their lot. Why did this have to be a scare challenge? I drew number two.

Shoto looked at the number on his slip of paper and made his way over to me, showing me the matching number on his slip, "do you get scared easily?"

"U-uh, no." I stammered, staring at the ground intently. Gee, that sure sounded convincing. I watched as Tokoyami and Shoji entered the forest first. We were second. The faster we got in the forest the sooner we could get out.

Shoto smiled, "I'm sure they won't be that scary." I hung my head. Damn it.

"Right."

"Group two can enter now!" Mandalay purred as she waved her paw. I hesitantly walked a few steps behind as we entered the forest. I felt something bump my hand. Then, a moment later, his hand wrapped with mine. I walked hip to hip with Shoto, my hand tensed in his. His thumb rubbed the side of my hand. We walked in pitch black for about six minutes without anyone making a sound.

"There's no one yet," I pursed my lips as I walked closely to Shoto.

"Boo," a weak voice said from below us. I looked down. A disembodied head was looking up at us from inside the ground. Their bangs were covering their eyes.

"Oh," Shoto said plainly with his free hand in his pockets as he stared at the head. I screeched. I screeched like a five-year-old girl and hid behind Shoto, shoving my face into his shoulder blades. The scarers started to laugh, and I felt Shoto's chest rumble as he tried to suppress his own laugh.

"It's not funny," I grumbled into his back. I pulled myself out of his back and pulled him after me – our hands still connected.

"Your scream was cute," he said with a chuckle. We walked deeper into the forest.

"Does something smell like it's burning?" I looked around the forest. A dense purple-hued fog started to roll in. It was foul I moved my hands and split the fog off the path with a gentle gust of wind. Maybe class 1-B had someone with something similar to Midnight's quirk. We did our training completely separately so the only quirks we knew from the other class were the ones showcased at the sports festival.

"There's someone on the ground," Shoto frowned, rushing to them. It was one of the brunette class 1-B boys. He has passed out in the middle of the path with a pained face. What was going on? Shoto picked the boy upon his back before walking forward. "Either we walked right into a complex scare or something is going on." I nodded in agreement as we continued down the road.

A dark figure was crouched down in the middle of the path. He was giggling. I swallowed hard. This is a scare. This is a scare.

"Hey," Shoto whispered, "Tokoyami and Shoji were in front of us, right?"

"Yeah, why-" I started. But then I saw what he must have seen. There was a hand in a pile of blood under the stranger. This was not a scare, this was real. My scream got caught in my throat.

I felt a spark before Mandalay came through my head, "do not engage in any fights with the villains. Return to the camp as quickly as you can and remain there." The figure in front of us stood, his giggling turning to laughter. He turned around. His entire body was covered in a black suit except for his mouth. His arms were wrapped together. Okay, that was an interesting costume choice. He jumped up, his teeth elongating into sharp twisted shapes. Shoto moved his foot forward, a wall of ice erupting in front of us. What were we going to do?

"I'll keep him busy, you take him and run to the camp," Shoto said, sending out more ice and the villain's teeth broke through the first layer.

I shook my head, "I'm not leaving you alone. We'll do this together." Shoto's breath halted in his throat for a moment before he nodded.

"Everyone in Class 1-A and 1-B. In the name of the pro hero, Eraser Head, you are allowed to engage in combat." Mandalay entered our minds. Shoto gave me a small smile with a determined look. We were fighting. "At least one of the targets is named 'Kacchan'." Wait – that was Midoriya's name for Bakugo. Great. They probably saw him during the sports festival and thought he'd make a good villain.

I looked at the boy on Shoto's back, he still showed no signs of waking up. It would be hard for him. We could either both fight and leave him somewhere, but this villain could potentially get to him. We could have one stay back and protect him while the other fought. The later seemed like a safer tactic. I snapped my fingers, my white lightning striking one of his mouse-like teeth extensions. The villain regained his composure quickly and set another set of sharp teeth at us. Shoto covered us in a half-dome of ice, preventing the teeth blades from reaching us. I kept snapping my fingers – sending bolt after bolt to his teeth.

I needed to try something new. I pulled my fist back, moving it in quick clockwise circles. A small ball of air swirled at the end of my fist. I forced my fist forward, the ball of air flattening and rushed toward the villain. He tried to jump over Shoto's ice wall, but he was hit by my quick air shield. He was thrown back. I kept attacking as Shoto reinforced the ice wall.

"Kazeya, Todoroki – someone make some light please!" Shoji rushed towards us with Midoriya wrapped on his back. Tokoyami and his dark shadow were destroying the forest as it chased after them. I looked at Shoto for a second, there was no way he could use his fire quirk without setting the woods ablaze. I snapped my fingers, the ice barrier between us breaking. Tokoyami's dark shadow had captured the toothy villain and ripped his teeth apart.

"Both of us," Shoto yelled as he put the unconscious boy down. I nodded, I lit up my arm with lightning and he covered his own in his fire. We rushed towards Tokoyami and around him to his backside. Dark shadow subsided.

"Sorry… Thanks for saving me," Tokoyami hung his head.

"Thanks for taking him out," I smiled while placing my hand on his shoulder.

"Have you two seen Bakugo," Midoriya asked from on top of Shoji.

Shoto and I both shook our heads. "No, he wasn't he supposed to be with you?" I frowned. They were after him for some reason. Why would they want him?

As if on cue, Bakugo came running through the woods, "where's the villain?!" He had his hands up ready to explode anything he could get his hands on.

I deadpanned and pointed with my thumb to the unconscious and lightly singed villain under a tree, "you missed it."

Midoriya let out a relieved sigh. "We need to be careful since they're after Bakugo. If we stay on this path, we'll end up back where the cats are fighting. The better idea is to cut through the forest and head straight to camp. There are two teachers there, so it'll be safer for us. We have Todoroki's fire and ice, Bakugo's explosion, Natsume's wind and lightning, Tokoyami's dark shadow and Shoji's sensory. With this team, I think we could even take down All Might." I had to agree, we had a pretty good chance of beating any villain we came across but both Shoji and Shoto had incapacitated people on their back that hindered our chances. I clapped my cheeks lightly before following in line behind Bakugo. Shoji and Midoriya took the front so they could sense if someone was waiting for us. Behind them was Shoto, then Bakugo. After myself was Tokoyami.

"Don't protect me! Dammit," Bakugo shouted as we walked along.

We walked along in silence, the only noise coming from Shoto and Midoriya as they conversed. I paused, something light blue had stopped Bakugo, myself, and Tokoyami in our tracks. We tried to yell out but the material covered us quickly. We wear each alone. What bullshit is this? I pounded away on the blue wall. Nothing. I set a bolt of lightning at the wall. Nothing. Damn it – how could we have gotten captured. I froze. They caught Bakugo. Tokoyami and I were probably collateral damage since we would have seen him get taken originally. Since no one spoke as we walked beside for Midoriya and Shoto, the others had no reason to suspect that we had been taken. I stood silently in the centre of the blue room; my hands tightened into fists. I tightened up the rest of my body trying to mimic the body's physiological response to anger. My heart rate increased, my palms became sweaty, my face felt hot. My arms began to tremble, and the top of my head began to pound. Come on body! I spun around quickly, increasing the air pressure while creating as large of a storm cloud as I could muster in the small space. I had to overfill it.

"More, more, fucking more," I growled through clenched teeth as the pressure weighed down on my shoulders. I let out a loud pained cry as I pushed the cloud away from my body and outward. I watched as the blue room around me shattered and I was in the middle of a group of villains. My storm cloud rushed up towards the sky, crackling lightning.

A villain with a black and grey mask and bodysuit was the first to speak, "how did you get out of that? Wait – you're on the kill list too!" There was a portal just like the ones at USJ beside each of the villains. They were in the same organization.

I raised a brow, "kill list?" Shoto put up a wall of ice between us. The one that had spoken jumped up and over the ice. I snapped both of my hands and sent two bolts of lightning through him. He screamed like a five-year-old girl dropping her ice cream and fell to the ground.

Shoto rushed to my side, "are you okay?"

I gave him a smile and a nod, "yeah." The girl and the one that I had electrocuted exited through a portal.

The villain that had captured me held up two small blue orbs between his fingers. "Good job figuring out a way to escape. Can't say the same for your friends." A beam of light shot a few inches from the villain's face. He dropped the orbs. Shoji rushed forward for the left while Shoto dove for the right. What should I do? Shoji caught the orb, but the villain covered in dark burn marks grabbed onto the orb Shoto was rushing at.

"Nice try, Shoto Todoroki." He smirked. How did he know his name? Shoto slid across the dirt, past the portal and into the treeline. "Compress, check it." His partner nodded, releasing his quirk. Shoji had grabbed onto Tokoyami, who was unconscious. The burnt villain had Bakugo by the throat as they disappeared into the portal. Midoriya ran for the portal, calling for his friend. The villain sent out a torrent of flames into the woods.

"Stay away, Deku," Bakugo growled as the portal closed. Midoriya fell into a pile, sliding along the dirt. My heartfelt heavy. We had failed. They had managed to kidnap their target. The forest that surrounded us was on fire. I spun around on my heels. There was nowhere for us to go. My heart began to beat rapidly, and my breathing came in short panicked gasps. Shoto tried to use his ice to stall the flame. It just bit right through his ice. I swallowed hard. I needed to try. I lifted my arms high above my head, swirling my hands and forearms above me. The dark clear sky began to darken further. The stars and moon were no longer visible. I watched my large cloud form above us with bated breath. I needed to do this. I let my arms fall slightly so my fingertips were just above the top of my head. My arms were bent at a ninety-degree angle – as if I was about to perform a tricep fly. I began to slowly force my wrists and elbows toward the other. I felt the tension build in my head and my shoulder blades began to scream. The cloud was too large for me.

No. I pushed that thought from my head and pushed my arms together harder. All my muscles strained to work with me. I let out a scream – willing my arms together. I needed to condense the cloud to form water vapour. If I tried to use lightning to start the storm, it may cause even more fires to break out. This was the only way. It had to work. I felt the weight lift off my shoulders for a moment, my arms coming together in parallel an inch apart. In an instant, a downpour began. The blue flames were squelched.

I stood in the centre of the clearing, drenched. I felt a large smile work its way onto my face. I spun to face the boys, "it worked." I was breathless. It was getting harder and harder to catch my breath. I felt my chest fall, a winter freeze overcoming me. My heart thumped to an irregular beat. I was not shivering.

Everything disappeared before me.


	15. Embarrassment

I was surrounded by a soft, fluffy, cloud. If only the ones I made were this nice. I could smell the ammonia from a heavy-duty cleaner. I opened my eyes slowly, a white tile ceiling greeting me. A hook with an IV wrapped in a thermal bag hung above me. I let my head lull to the side. The curtains were open to a clear night sky. I turned to face the other way. I was alone. No other beds were in the room and an empty chair sat beside me. I lifted my heavy arm up and pressed the buzzer on the side of the bed.

It only took a moment before a nurse slammed the door open. "You really are awake! How are you feeling?" She stalked into the room, taking a thermometer out of the compartment above me and stuck it under my tongue.

"Cold," I responded with as little movement as possible. She left the room briefly before bringing back another large comforter.

She took the thermometer from my mouth after it beeped, "damn it." She left again, this time returning ten minutes later with a cart full of hot water bottles. She manoeuvred them around me without lifting the blankets. "I'll go grab your doctor." She left again. I could barely feel the benefit from the water bottles.

"It's good to see that you're awake." A deep voice spoke from the door. I turned to see Shinnosuke – he was our family doctor from back home.

"What are you doing all the way down here in Nagano," I asked, trying to focus on arching a brow.

He laughed, sitting in the chair beside the bed. "I got a call from the head here. They said that your temperature fell to fourteen degrees, so I hopped on the first flight off Hokkaido. You've become quite the nuisance with that quirk. The more you use your quirk the more your body will be used to working at colder temperatures – just like your mother and brother. But anything less than sixteen will kill you if you're not careful. Normal people can't survive below twenty." He snapped his fingers, watching me judgementally. "Anyway – you're core temperature is still sitting at twenty-six degrees. We haven't concluded if that's your bodies new homeostasis or if you're still in the process of warming." He tossed me my cellphone that was sitting on the side table before leaving. I pulled the blankets above my head and relaxed.

I had a plethora of emails and texts that had not been opened in three days. It had already been that long since Bakugo was kidnapped. I swallowed, opening a notification on an All Might fight that had just finished. I wanted to throw up. All Might had fought All For One to rescue Bakugo. All For One had put All Might into early retirement – a photo of an emaciated man with a deflated version of All Might's hair stood in his suit, pointing at the camera. Most of the pro-heroes that had come to help were gravely injured. That list included Best Jeanist and Thunderhead.

No. That could not be right. I quickly pulled up Dad's number and slid the green call button up. It rang twice before he answered, "Dad!"

"He's fine. Just some bad scrapes. You on the other hand!" Mom answered on the other end.

"Is that Natsume?" A deep voice spoke in the background. Was that Shoto? "She's awake?"

"See – even your friend's concerned for you. Stop doing stupid shit like that!" My mother chastised me. She sighed. "He's going to be in the hospital for a while, but he'll be fine. He went in to help that classmate of yours. Nothing he can't get used too." My heart sank.

"I'll be there as soon as I can," I said, but she had already hung up. What on earth had happened during that fight? I pulled up Shoto's number and called him. It instantly went to his voice mail. I frowned, hanging up without leaving a message. I needed to get discharged as soon as I could. I felt heavy. My shoulders fell into the fluffy sheets and I was out in a few moments.

* * *

The door slammed open. I looked up from my book and smiled. Shoto stood in the doorway, staring at me. His chest heaved with each uneven breath. He rushed forward and pulled me into a tight hug. His arms flexed and held me tighter yet. My head was pressed into his chest and his chin rested on top of my head. "Shoto – is everything okay?"

He did not let go. "I was scared at the thought of losing you. Please, don't do something so reckless ever again Natsu." He was shaking. I dropped my book and wrapped my own arms around him. My hands knotting in his shirt.

"Why were you there?" I spoke after a few minutes.

He answered without letting go. "Midoriya, Kirishima, Iida, Yaoyorozu, and I went to rescue Bakugo."

I pulled back as far as I could to stare up into his eyes in fear. "Is everyone okay?"

Shoto rubbed his thumb against the back of my neck. "They are, yeah." I let myself relax.

The door opened again. "Let's check that temperature of yours. Oh – your boyfriend is here again." Dr Shinnosuke chuckled. I pushed Shoto away and wrapped the blanket over my head. "Aw, did I embarrass the couple?" I peaked out of the blanket to glare at my doctor. Shoto stood, cheeks slightly pink, as he stared out the window. My doctor moved around us, sticking the thermometer under my tongue.

"Will Natsume be released today?" Shoto spoke after a moment. His hands were shoved into the pockets on his shorts.

"Oh, is it date night?" Dr. Shinnosuke smiled. I glared up at him. He took the thermometer from my mouth and examined the reading. "Well, you've held steady at twenty-six degrees for the past forty-eight hours. That seems to be your new normal for now at least. You are free to go on your date. If your temperate drops again or anything give me a call. I'm headed to Tokyo's hospital to see your Dad anyway." He smirked, closing the door behind him. I picked up my folded and laundered clothes from the side table and entered the adjoining bathroom. I changed out of the pale blue hospital provided sweat suit and into the long-sleeved black top and jeans I had been wearing the night of the attack. I quickly splashed water on my face and dried it before exiting the bathroom.

"Back to your home," Shoto asked as we left the hospital room.

I shook my head. "I have to go see my Dad. You were there – is it bad?"

"He'll be fine," Shoto attempted to reassure me. We walked in silence to the train, taking the bullet to Tokyo. Everyone else had been discharged from the hospital before me. Once Shoto and I arrived at the hospital, he waited in the lobby while I checked with admitting for my father's room.

"He's in room eleven on floor fifteen." The nurse said, giving me a smile. I thanked her and hurried into the elevator, tapping my foot impatiently for the slow elevator to rise. I rushed out of the elevator onto the fifteenth floor. I could hear my parent's loud laughter from down the hall. It could not be that bad if they were both laughing obnoxiously, right? I turned the corner into his room. All Might sat in a wheelchair with my Mother beside him. His arms and forehead were wrapped in bandages. My Father sat in the bed, his left arm was missing, and his shoulder was wrapped tightly in gauze and bandages.

"Natsume," my Father smiled. "Glad to see your alright."

I felt a hand rest on my head. "The Pussycat's would have lost their home if it wasn't for her." I turned my head just enough to see Aizawa.

"D-Dad," I stammered.

"I'll be fine," he rubbed the back of his head with his remaining arm. "Thankfully, I'm right-handed. That saved me a lot of grief."

"If it weren't for your Father," All Might turned his attention to me. His eyes were full and sunken in. "Shigaraki would've gotten Young Bakugo."

"Sh-Shigaraki did that," my chest heaved. How long had he been touching Thunderhead to take off his arm?

"I'll be fine! I'll be back to hero work in no time at all," my Father laughed. "After all – I only need one finger to electrocute someone! Maybe I'll be 'The One Armed Hero: Thunder Arm!' from now on."

"Now you've taking it to far," my Mother snapped, throwing a pretzel at him. He caught it in his mouth. My family was weird.

"All Might," Aizawa redirected, "when you're discharged Nezu wants us to go to all the parents and apologize for this mess. For those that want to let their children continue we'll be moving to the dormitory system immediately." I looked between my parents quickly. There was a chance that myself – or my classmates – would not be allowed to return to school.

"Guess Natsu better go pack," my Mother and Father said at the same time.

"You're letting me go back," I asked, looking at my teachers.

"Of course," my Mom chided, "you've grown your quirk exponentially. When you left you couldn't even cool me down in the middle of summer – and now you're squelching forest fires. It's not like Eraser or All Might need to apologize for what happened. It was an obvious consequence of having the number one hero teach at a school – but, that is also pushing you all into being wonderful heroes."

"But, I'm still not strong enough. If I hadn't have passed out, I could have been there to help. You might still have your arm," I cried.

My Mom took a pretzel and threw it at my forehead, "you went into hypothermic shock you dolt! It's something all wind users deal with. You hit a roof on your quirk and now you should be able to go even further – just don't freak your friends out too much."

"But," I started.

She threw another pretzel at me, "no buts!"

"Is that Shoto downstairs?" My Father pried, wagging his brows. I nodded. "What are you doing wasting even more time in hospitals? You two had a stressful week – go have some fun. We'll call if there's any changed to my missing arm." He laughed again, slapping his leg.

My Mother agreed, "go have fun. Go rest – I'm sure he didn't get any sleep last night."

I reluctantly nodded, "o-okay." I said my farewells and rejoined Shoto in the lobby. He was having trouble staying awake. "Do you want to head back to my place? Relax?"

"Sure," he nodded. "Now that my old man's number one I don't want to head home yet." We left the hospital for the train station.

"Wouldn't Endeavor be grateful for that?"

"That wasn't how he wanted it to go." I nodded, biting my lip. Endeavor probably wanted to surpass All Might on his own but he was handed the spot.

We stood in silence on the train to the stop closest to our homes. We walked in silence with the occasional yawn to my home. Kao was not home thankfully. "Do you want to watch a movie?"

"Sure," he nodded slipping his shoes off. We both sat down on the sofa and flipped through the channels for something. We settled on a romantic comedy that had come out twenty years ago. We sat beside each other, our shoulders touching. After the first third of the film I glanced over at Shoto. He was asleep, head pressed against the back of the sofa with his mouth slightly agape. I forced myself to look away and slowly got up as to not bother him. I creeped up the stairs to my bedroom. Kaosuke had, thankfully, replaced my door. I opened the door and took the blanket off my bed. I formed a cloud and floated the blanket on it down the stairs. I followed after my cloud, gently lowering it over Shoto. Please do not wake up. I let my cloud fade as I took my seat again. I watched in horror as Shoto fell towards me. I leaned away from him but he wrapped his arms around my torso and snuggled his head into my stomach, the blanket over him. I was pressed into the arm of the sofa, my arms in the air above us. I tried to relax and watch the movie again. But this was too embarrassing.

Kaosuke walked into the living room a few hours after I had resigned myself to never being able to move again. He had taken his phone and shot far too may photos of us and my bright red face.


End file.
